


Riots and Masters

by stripedcarnee



Series: Riots And Masters [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Broken Families, Canon Gay Relationship, Dystopia, Enemies to Lovers, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Character of Color, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Post-Apocalypse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Science Fiction, Slow Burn, Spies & Secret Agents, Superheroes, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-01-16 06:35:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 30,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21266642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stripedcarnee/pseuds/stripedcarnee
Summary: 1000 years after the catastrophic Great Migration of 2021, every human being on Earth has some sort of super power. Alece Reens has the ability to predict the future, but after the death of his sibling, he founds himself lost and aimless, until he gets invited to join an underground group of spies called STOP. One problem arises, the people he is trained to capture are the same people that he grew up with. How can he balance his new job with his lingering feelings for his old? Can he manage the grief well enough to make a connection with his team, or will his abrasive attitude leave him stranded and alone again?





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! This is my first original work on AO3 that I'm working on for NaNoWriMo. This series is planned out to be a trilogy, and I plan to publish the first book for free on both here and Amazon. As this is my first public work, and second ever novel, I'd appreciate any feedback you could give me. Thanks for checking this out and I hope you enjoy the ride!  
(Note: I plan on publishing chapters as I finish them during the month of November).

Sirens blared through the hall of the bank, the patrons frozen in fear as masked goons held stun guns at their heads. Deadly weapons were a thing of hundreds of years in the past, and now most weapons had to do with electricity. While on occasion electric force could prove fatal, standard issue stun guns only shocked enough to subdue. However, the guns used by the members of CONTROL, Neo Chicago's most well known crime syndicate, were not to be played around with, and the patrons with their hands up knew this well. 

Alece Reens, a higher up in CONTROL, walked in with his sibling Jaudi, pointing their stun guns at anyone who dared to even flinch. Alece pointed his gun in the air and fired, using the jolt to completely shatter the above chandelier.

"Now, just let us get on with this and no one will get hurt!" Jaudi said with an energetic voice as they walked towards the back. "Anyone even dares to call the fuzz on us, you'll wind up just like that light!"

That seemed to quiet down the civilians enough for them to go back to the vault. 

"You don't have to sound so happy when sticking up a bank, you know." Alece commented, imputing the password that would lead them behind the heavy mechanical door. "Hey, look behind it to see if its a set up. I don't trust the guy who did the hacking." 

Jaudi smiled and removed their mask for a split second, revealing their bleached blonde hair and striking green eyes, set deep into their face. They had features that could fit basically anyone descending from humans that occupied the middle east before the countries banded together. They focused on concentrating so they could see through the metal. It took them a few seconds, but they shook their head, putting the mask back on. 

"It's empty, don't worry. Nothing but hard drives with millions of Perles on it!" They smiled, wincing a bit. While most people could use their powers willy nilly, Jaudi was unfortunately one of the ones who experienced pain when using their x ray vision.

Alece nodded and slid open the vault, heading inside and to the central device, a computer that controls all the funds held within. He kneels under it and inserts the chip from his phone, typing away as he bypasses security to remove the funds. Jaudi waits by the entrance, stunner at the ready.

"Do you think, when this missions done, we'll have enough to leave?" Jaudi asks, knowing this process might take a second.

Alece shrugged, staring at the loading screen.

"I don't know, we're getting paid more now that we're running the heists, but we'll need a lot to change our identity and get out of the business."

Jaudi sighed a bit and nodded. They had been planning on escaping with Alece for years, getting out of the business they were born into and actually living a normal life. They knew it was their dream, not necessarily Alece's, but they had been wanting this for so long, they almost couldn't wait anymore.

"Ah, there it goes." Alece said, removing the chip and placing it back in the side of his phone. He pocketed it and stood up, shooting the computer with his stunner to disable it for at least a while. "Lets get out of here, Jaudi."

The two of them walked back through the bank and gave the signal to their goons, everyone starting to make a break for it. Their getaway vehicle was a couple blocks down, so they all started to spring towards there.

However, more sirens began to blare, the distinct sounds of the VPS vehicles. After traditional police forces were disbanded eons ago, they replaced armed policemen with volunteers who go through rigorous training and study of the law to uphold justice part time. No one made a career out of it, but they were well loved by the community as long as they didn't abuse their powers. If they abused their position and caused a needless death, they themselves were executed.

Jaudi shouted at everyone to run faster, ushering everyone else ahead of them towards the safety of the vehicle. No one knew what happened to criminals after they were captured by the VPS, and they weren't about to find out.

Alece pointed his stunner at the VPS van and shot, hitting it directly with enough volts to subdue the vehicle for a while. Jaudi nodded and they both took off in a different direction, through an alleyway that would eventually lead to their getaway van.

They ran hard and fast down the alley, knocking over trash disintegrators and other rubbish, hoping to make it more difficult to be caught up with. They wound up at the end of the alley, a T shaped intersection where they would need to turn left to get to their van. They were in the home stretch.

"Thank god we're almost t-"

Jaudi's words were cut off by a loud and eerie banging sound, sounding exactly like a firework.

Then they collapsed to the ground.

Alece heard Jaudi fall with a loud 'THUD', and he rushed over to his sibling, seeing them gasp for air.

"JAUDI!!" He shouted, louder than he had ever spoken in his life. He took their hand off their chest to reveal a large blood spot forming on their shirt.

This couldn't happen, Alece thought. What on Earth could cause such a horrible wound?? Alece ripped open their shirt and tried to stop the bleeding with the fabric as Jaudi gasped for air.

"I-It's ok..." Jaudi reassured him, they were always the type to keep things cheerful and light, even in the darkest of times. "I'm... I'm going to be free, right? I'll get fixed up... Then we can leave? Money be damned... We can move to our own place... Maybe get a dog... O-or a fish... O-or..." 

They had begun to cry, the reality of the pain settling in as they felt themselves begin to fade. Alece held Jaudi's bloodstained hand tighter, tears beginning to fall from his normally stoic face. Alece removed his mask, his tears falling more earnestly onto their clasped hands. 

"Y-yeah..." Alece managed to stutter out through the tears. "A dog... Our own place. Right after this..." He said, as he saw Jaudi's eyes close for the last time. "I'll make sure of it... I promise... You'll get everything you ever wanted. Just... Don't leave me alone... Please Jau I beg of you don't leave me..."

It was too late. Jaudi's body began to get cold, the process of living grinding ever so slowly to a halt.

Alece kissed their forehead and covered them up with his jacket. His mind was blank. He should be angry, running after whoever killed his sibling and exacting revenge. But he was tired. He knew the risks of this lifestyle, and he knew Jaudi was right to try to leave.

He vowed on that day that it would be the last. He'd take whatever they had saved up, and get the fuck out of CONTROL. He'd do it for Jaudi. He'd get a dog, a fish, or whatever. He'd get a job, and one day be a man his sibling would be proud of.

He got up and walked back, an uneasy silence hanging over him as he swore to his new resolve.

That night, he was gone.


	2. The Letter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who's read this far! I plan to add more tomorrow, so stay tuned!

The blue bullet train whooshed by Alece as he walked through the station.

He had headphones on, a cheap pair that he had gotten as a gift from Jaudi for his 18th birthday. They had been saving up to leave at that point, but they were only doing grunt work so any cent counted. However, they still managed to get him a gift that he would cherish.

It had been three months since their death.

Like he had promised that day, Alece got together all their secretly stored funds and left, erasing his identity from CONTROL's grasp, and moving into a dingy apartment deeper into the city. He had stayed long enough for the funeral, their illustrious father, the leader of CONTROL, giving a speech on how they will surely be missed. What a load of bull, Alece had thought. He probably could only tell Jaudi's identity from a serial number. After that, he had gone, not looking back once. However, employment wasn't easy to come by, especially with someone with no known trace.

At this moment, he was on his way home from another failed interview. He had gone in, forced a smile, but still didn't make the cut when he admitted he had no recorded experience in any related fields.

He sighed and sat at his stop, waiting for the train to come to take him to his home. These trains used to take passengers outside of the city, but after the catastrophe that followed the Great Migration, the town had tripled in size and it really just took him to another part of the city.

It made him wonder, really, if things had changed much since before that day 1000 years ago. Back then the Earth was visibly dying, the richest of the rich doing nothing about it but continuing to line their pocketbooks. He was told that people back then thought they could change it, that doing little things like recycling and being energy efficient could make up for the massive amount of pollutants used by money grubbing company execs to cut corners on production. Like switching to metal straws could negate the damage of a thousand gallon oil spill.

It was no wonder the elite got scared. After climate change was officially deemed irreversible, there wasn't as much public panic because the rich knew how to pacify the common people. However, their promises of change were empty, and one day everything changed.

A massive spacecraft lifted off with the upper crust safely inside of it, and all weapons of mass destruction detonated at once, destroying many science research centers, military bases, and space hubs. Millions of people died, and nearly everyone had some form of radiation sickness after that day.

However, not all was lost. As the history books taught him, the remainder of humanity immediately accepted open borders, relocating billions of people to areas that were least effected by the blasts. People woke up to the dangers of capitalism, and everyone pooled together their strengths to save their planet and their people. They even developed a cure for the radiation sickness, prolonging the life expectancy of many who were near the blasts. However, little did they know that generations in the future, the medicine would have some side effects.

It was normal for him, but he can only imagine what his forefathers would think, knowing that hundreds of years in the future, every man, woman, in between, and neither, would have some sort of extrasensory ability. Depending on your lineage and the inner workings of your DNA, you were born with a power. At first people tried to recreate the superhero tales of old, but that quickly ended in fights and bloodshed. Nowadays no one is seen as more special than the other due to their powers.

Alece looked at his clock, and realized that he forgot to check the arrival time. He could check with his phone, but he had a quicker way.

Steadying his thoughts and letting out a deep breath, Alece let his mind flash forward through the next ten minutes of time. He saw exactly when the train would show up, in about eight minutes. He stopped the vision and looked down, mentally logging what time that would be. His power was one that was hard to find a use for, admittedly. Depending on his level of concentration, he can see up to thirty minutes into the future. He had managed to use it well in his life of crime, being able to tell where an assailant would come at you or if you would trip a wire had its uses in the crime world, but it didn't help him much outside of it, aside from little things like this.

The train soon stopped in front of him, and he went on and sat down, shuffling his music a bit more to try to get something truly random. With all the complicated algorithms, it was hard not to get songs tuned to your current habits, but with enough of the skip button you could most likely bypass the sensors. Ads began to play as he had to earn more skips, and he groaned. The world had wholeheartedly rejected capitalism a thousand years ago, and yet it seemed to be stronger than ever. Rich bastards still found a way to become elite and sell their products, it was just usually hidden behind a veil of false caring. Scumbags would always be scumbags.

Alece watched as the train started up, all the buildings passing. Architecture had not been built to last, so most of the centuries famous high rise buildings were replaced with even bigger ones. It was nearly impossible to see the sky looking up in the middle of the city, but luckily as they passed the city center and headed towards the outskirts, you could see quite a bit of it through the tops of the buildings. Skyscrapers were commonplace, even on the edge of town, as it was easier to house many people vertically than it was horizontally. He saw his building in the distance and waved his hand through the infrared beam, the disruption of the light signaling that he wanted to get off.

He stood up and walked towards the exit, then down the stairs and a few blocks past the station to his building. His apartment was on the fifteenth floor, and was a glorified hole in the wall. He opens the door, the ID chip in his watch automatically unlocking the door for him.

Inside is a bare bones apartment. He had a folding metal chair in the kitchen where he sat and ate his meals, usually directly off the stove, and a sleeping bag and pillow in the center of the room by the window. He had a backpack with his belongings from before, and a suitcase to put the small chair and sleeping bag in if he had to leave suddenly and wanted to take them with him.

Home sweet home.

He immediately went to his sleeping bag and laid down on it, when he heard a crumple on his pillow. It startled him a bit, as things that crumpled were usually deemed wasteful and harmful to the environment. He pulled the object out, an envelope now in his hand.

A paper envelope.

When people used paper in this day and age, it only meant one thing.

That there would most likely be no digital trace of the correspondence.

He thought of his father, and the life he left behind. Did they catch up with him? Did they want him back?

Alece hesitated a bit before swallowing his fear and ripping open the letter, beginning to read the contents.

"Dear Alece Reens.

Meet us at 1pm Tuesday at 132 E Marc St. Enter the doors to your right upon entry.

Do not be late."

This was... Odd, Alece thought. It wasn't signed, or anything. Usually when his father delivered things, he stamped them with official CONTROL seals, a mark of bravado, proof of his power. This one... Was simple. Plain paper, no stamp... No dander or fingerprints or hairs or anything that could link it to a real human being. He had no idea who this could be from, or what to expect.

However, the fact of the matter was, that they easily got into his locked apartment. They knew his full name, and where he lived. They probably knew more about him, and he wasn't keen on someone holding this kind of leverage over him. With the life he escaped, if he didn't comply with whatever this was, it could pose very dangerous for his well being. They could be someone planning to blackmail him, turn him in, or worse.

Panic wracked through his body, his head feeling light and fuzzy as he tried to steady his breathing. He quickly put the time and location in his phone, and took out a lighter and burned the letter and envelope. If anything were to happen to him, he didn't want anyone able to find out. If he were to die, he'd rather disappear without a trace. 

Images of Jaudi with that huge wound in them flashed through his head, and he gripped the sides of his face, rocking a bit to try to calm down. He'd been having flashbacks to that day a lot, the sound of that archaic weapon, most likely an actual bullet having gun, flooding his mind. It had gotten so bad that even the sound of a door closing too hard made him jump. He had to be stronger than this, he couldn't be a panicked mess on the floor if he was going to get to the bottom of the letter.

He laid down and covered his ringing head with his pillow, trying to drown out all thought. He count to ten, then back down, then back up again, trying to breathe slowly along with his counting. Eventually his breathing evened out, and he felt a wave of fatigue overcome him. He could eat and shower in the morning, after a panic attack like that he needed to get some sleep.

He used his phone to turn off the overhead light, and put the pillow back behind his head. He sat up for a second and removed his outer layers of his clothes to give him an easier time breathing at night, and he took the tie out of his green hair and brushed his hair through the short braid, letting the locks cascade down his shoulders. Lastly, he removed his glasses and placed them on top of his jacket next to him.

Today was Sunday, so he had two days until the meeting. He had a bit of his GI, guaranteed income, check left, and figured he might as well use it to buy a basic knife. He still had a stun gun in his backpack, but he wasn't planning on coming fully armed to somewhere that might be filled with people who would take it as a sign of defiance. A simple pocketknife would help in a pinch, and would at least give him peace of mind.

With the thoughts of going shopping tomorrow distracting him from the episode he had earlier, Alece closed his eyes and begin to let sleep take over him.


	3. The Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was planning to get this out earlier, but it ended up being longer than I thought! Enjoy!!

On the day of the meeting, Alece's alarm woke him up fairly early. The message had told him to be there at one in the afternoon, so he woke up around nine to make sure he had everything together. He climbed out of his sleeping bag and stretched, using his watch to lighten the window tints to let more light in the room. The streetlights and faded sunlight streamed through the glass, making him squint.

After taking a few minutes to rub the sleepies out of his eyes, he stood up, heading to the bathroom to freshen up. After a much needed shower he dried his hair and dressed in a button up and fairly clean slacks, wanting to look presentable. He put his basic, non tech glasses on his face and sat down with his phone at the counter, eating a meal bar and reading the news. There were more robberies, most likely caused by CONTROL, but other than that there was nothing of note. Weather would be cold and sunny, as it usually was this time of year.

He dawdled around aimlessly as the time ticked by, growing more anxious as the clock approached twelve, the time he would leave. When his reminder alarm rang he shot up, pocketing his phone and walking out the door, it auto-locking behind him,

While he walked closer and closer to the station, he scanned with his powers the next few minutes to see if there was any delays, and saw that there was a detour ahead of him, which might cause him to be late. He immediately switched to another path, but he had to run to make it on time. When he got on the train unscathed, he panted heavily. He was good at exercising, but with the amount of stress he was already under, he found himself short of breath.

He tapped his foot impatiently. He should really turn on some music to distract him and calm his nerves, but with the severity of what this meeting could bring to him, he felt it a bit... distasteful to do that. So he watched the real time map on the window move the marker closer and closer to where he had to get off.

It got closer and closer, and his anxiety spiked. He clenched his sleeves as it pulled into the final stop, and he got up and walked out. It was now or never.

The building he was supposed to go to was one of many similar buildings around the city, all of which he assumed were either general office buildings or residential suites. They looked clean and proper, rounded and chrome, a bit different than the stark edges that were the style nowadays. They had a bit of a shiny antiquity to them, probably made out of real metal, most likely recycled from places of old.

He walked through the automatic doors and went the way he was told, through an opaque set of double glass doors. They slid closed behind him, and seemed to latch. Everything just screamed office building, which was the opposite of CONTROL's more retro and harsh style. This was... Organized. If this was his old gang they would have probably had him cuffed and out by now.

At the opposite side of the room were two men in suits and opaque black masks, hands clasped behind their backs. He walked up to them, figuring he would have to interact with them to move on.

"H-Hi... I was told to come he-" He started, before getting roughly cut off.

"Surrender any weapons in the bin to my left."

Right, straight to the point, huh. He took out the hidden knife in his boot, placing it in the bin. It was just a cheap knife, so if he didn't get it back he wouldn't be too sore about it. 

The men then came over and frisked him, probably to check if he had any others hidden. Alece held out his arms, used to this. He knew where to hide things to pass these inspections, but he had no intention of taking that risk today. He was done with that life, if he was going to honor Jaudi's memory, he'd be more honest of a person.

When they found him clean, they pressed a button and opened the door.

Alece stepped inside, and took in his surroundings.

The room was perfectly square, the door sealing shut behind him. Vents were on the ceiling, and the room was covered in white walls, five chairs scattered about.

All the chairs were full except for one, which he sat down in promptly.

Tapping her leg loudly was a rather large girl wearing a short skirt, high boots, and a tattered crop top. With her firey red and brown hair and general commanding attitude, she seemed to be the center of everyone's attention. She looked annoyed, as if she had somewhere to be after this. He was reminded that he had no idea how long this would go, and assumed she didn't know either. He had cleared her day, but he could imagine that for someone with a steady job or committment, something as mysterious as this would be quite anxiety ridden.

Sitting in one of the corners tapping on his phone was someone who looked fairly masculine, but tended to blur the line of the traditional genders quite seamlessly. He was wearing a lot of black, matching his shaggy hair, and looked absolutely bored and not in the slightest bit worried. Maybe he was the carefree type, or maybe he was just good at hiding his emotions.

In the center of the room, sitting in the most awkward position you could manage on a simple chair, was a man that looked laughably like a cowboy from the ancient western shows. The style was still popular in some fringe communities, farming was fairly automated nowadays, but some of the people who still worked in those areas would try to mimic the ancient style. It was still a rare sight, which made Alece stare a bit longer than he had intended.

Lastly, there was a girl that odd enough, was the only one besides him that seemed to dress professionally. Her light hair was tied almost painfully in a bun, glasses sitting proper on her nose. She was in a tight skirt and blazer, and although someone like that would assumedly be the most stressed in this situation, she looked extremely prepared. Did she know what was going on here?

Before Alece could ask any questions, one of the walls turn black, the word STOP appearing on it in bright yellow letters.

"Hello", a speaker, most likely a recording, begins to say.

"Welcome to STOP. STOP is an acronym, which stands for STOPPING TYRANNICAL ORGANIZED PEOPLE. Our goal here at STOP is to discreetly and cleanly remove the pressing threat of people that threaten the peace of our era."

The screen begins to show an image of Earth, rotating.

"Hundreds of years ago, us humans used militaries, police, and other organizations to quell those who would cause trouble. However, the power imbalance of having people ruling over others in that way caused people to distrust those groups, and for those groups to abuse their power to protect the peace. Luckily, nowadays we have the VPS, a trained group of volunteers who literally lay their life on the line to help the public. We thank them for their service, however, not every problem can be solved by volunteers."

Images of people bustling through a city flash in front of them. These images are obviously only meant to be filler for the voices.

"Now that's where we come in. Without our underground and discreet teams of individuals who have shown remarkable control over their powers, we can quickly and quietly take care of problems that need a finer discretion. This position does not come with power, no one will ever know your name is attached to saving the common man. However, we do offer security, and a way to make the world a better place."

A list of benefits is now shown on the screen, and the voice begins to list them.

"First off, with this position you are offered a place of residence that is the top of the line and close to the city. You are paid for any and all expenses that come with the job, as well as added bonuses depending on performance. You will receive state of the art training in honing your mind and body, and you and yours will have access to the most advanced medical facilities in the area, in case of injury. You will be provided with a company vehicle upon your request, and the starting pay is 5k Perles a week, with chance for raises after review."

"5-5,000 Perles?!" Shouted the cowboy, standing up with excitement. Everyone stares at him, since he had broken the silence between them. However, everyone else seemed to be sharing his thoughts. That was a lot of money, anyone could easily live off of a sum like that. After a couple years of saving that one could easily retire wherever they wanted, even.

Even Alece was beginning to be swayed.

"There has to be a catch... Don't get too excited." The boy dressed in black said from the corner of the room, a leg crossed over the other. Alece was inclined to agree, but the cowboy didn't seem to want to hear that.

"Fuck whatever the catch is, thats a fuckton of money! There's hardly a thing I WOULDN'T do for that much cash!" He yelled at the other man.

"Would you die?" He retorted, staring him directly in the eyes.

Before he had a chance to respond, the speaker came to life again.

"In exchange for all of this, you will have to take a vow of secrecy. You will work irregular jobs to their completion, and it will be high in physical activity and use of your powers. You will be in dangerous situations on the regular, and there is a slight chance you might not make it back. You will be laying your life on the line for the safety of your fellow man, and they will never know what you've done. Within the organization, however, there will be times where you will be praised, but even those closest to you cannot know of what you do. We will provide all necessary cover stories, but the choice is ultimately up to you."

The voice went silent for a second, before speaking again.

"You have thirty minutes to make this decision. For this time, the door will be unlocked and you may exit if this does not please you. However, we will ensure that you have no recollection of this meeting. The timer starts now."

Like clockwork, a timer appeared on the screen, counting down the seconds from thirty minutes.

An uneasy silence washed over the room, only to be broken by the cowboy from before.

"Well I know what I'm choosing, not like I have anything to lose!" He said with a laugh.

"I agree, this gig pays much better than any other job I've had." The girl with red streaks said, chuckling a bit to herself. "Count me in, I'm always a slut for danger."

The boy in black sighed. "Not like any of us have other prospects, they probably chose us all because we don't have many ties to others. They might be lying, and leading us all to a slaughterhouse."

"Don't be absurd, this seems very legitimate!" The tight laced girl retorted. 

"And how do you know about its legitimacy?" The goth boy asked, looking at her. Everyone else seemed to follow his gaze.

"W-well... I just..." She stuttered, seeming to unravel. "I just have a good feeling is all!"

"Right, noted."

The cowboy grumbled a bit. "Can you, for two seconds, try to stop ruining this for the rest of us!"

"Yeah, you're a real buzzkill." The girl with streaks agreed. "Some of us don't have any other choice."

The gothic boy sighed. "You don't see me leaving, but its only normal to question something like this... Like I said earlier, none of us seem the type to have any real attachment to the outside world. While this makes us good candidates for what they described, it also makes us good target for someone to use us. Does that make any sense to you?"

"What's that supposed to mean, are you calling me stupid, pretty boy?" The cowboy said, walking over to him and kicking a leg on the wall behind him, obviously trying to be intimidating.

"Well, if the obnoxious cowboy boot fits..." He said with a devilish smirk. It almost seemed like he enjoyed this banter.

"What was that about my shoes!?" He replied, raising his fist.

The girl with the streaks kicked the cowboy on the back with her heel. "If you ruin this for all of us because you start a fucking fight at orientation I SWEAR I will end you." She said with a pointed glare. The cowboy glared back.

The tension was so high, that it only broke when a small buzzer rang and the door locked again. The speaker began playing again, stopping everyone's arguments in their tracks.

"Great! Everyone who stayed, congratulations and welcome! If you stood up, please return to your seats."

After a few seconds, the whole room began to move, the hot-headed cowboy falling on top of the goth boy from where he was standing. The petite goth boy shoved him off, them both remaining on the floor as the walls turned from opaque to clear as the room descended. Seems the room was actually an elevator. When the room stopped going down, they were surrounded by a command hub of sorts, filled with people. On one side, people were training, running drills and honing their abilities. On the other side people were working computers, providing intel.

"In a state of the art building much like this one, you will spend the next two weeks training and testing your abilities. We will test you regularly to make sure you are up to the required levels, but for the beginning part of your career you will be allowed some leniency as your body and powers adjust. During any and all missions there will be teams at headquarters offering you assistance as you need it, and ready to send out backup as required. We run a fairly simple operation here, and hope you will enjoy being a part of it."

The room started moving again, upwards this time. As it moved the voice spoke once more.

"As you leave you will be given a box that contains address and keys to your new lodgings and a sign on bonus that should cover any and all moving expenses. The five of you will share a communal apartment, yet you will have a private area of your own to sleep and bathe. You are given one week from today to move in, and in the box is a digit you can contact if you need any sort of official excuse to alleviate the transition."

When the room stopped ascending, the door unlocked.

"This time one week from now your assigned mentor will meet you in your new home. Thank you and we look forward to you working with us here at STOP." 

The screens turned opaque again, and everyone shuffled out of the room awkwardly. It seemed that they would all be living together, which might pose some problems given how everyone got along at the beginning. However, Alece remained optimistic. This could be a good thing, a way for him to give back and be a better person... Jaudi would be proud if he could manage that.

After receiving their boxes, they all went their separate ways, back to their original homes.


	4. The Move

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who's view/kudos so far! I appreciate each and every one of you, and hope you enjoy the story so far!

They had told them a week to move, but honestly, Alece would only need about twenty minutes, most of that being time to cancel his lease. When he made it back home after a quite boring commute, he used his backpack to pack up most of his chargers and toiletries, then put his collapsible chair and bed things in the suitcase. He had just enough room in his bags to clear out his pantry and fridge. While the money they gave him would be more than enough to get new groceries, he had gotten into the habit of saving everything he had. Besides, he would probably be the first one there, and not having to shop for a few days would be nice.

After putting everything in the bags and looking over the room once more, he walked over to the large screen panel next to the door. This was where he paid his rent and handled his lease and other agreements, so he went through the settings and paid to break his lease, then locked up the room for a final time and left the place he had called home for a few months. He considered it a bit bittersweet, seeing as that was the first place he lived away from CONTROL. Nevertheless, he had to move on for this job. He bid the apartment goodbye, then started heading outside.

He grabbed the small card that was in the box, and typed in the address in his watch for directions. They popped up before him and started pointing him in the right direction. These people must really value secrecy to use something as archaic as paper... Using traditionally manufactured paper was all but illegal nowadays, so he suspected it was made of something invasive like bamboo. Even so, it was a rarity. 

Weirdly enough, the directions were not taking him in the same direction as he went earlier. He had half expected it to be the same building the meeting was in, but he guessed that maybe that one was reserved for people who weren't new. The building he arrived at was almost as nice as the other one, but slightly smaller. Not to say it was anything less than a skyscraper, though.

When he went inside, they had him enter his biometrics before giving him his room data for his phone. Most keys were used digitally like that, and they all tended to have a couple backup measures, like retinal scans and DNA scans. You could give a digital key to someone else though, either temporarily or permanently, if needed. It was rather convenient that way.

Once they set up his access, he took his belongings and headed up to the floor he was told to go to. He wasn't given a room number, but when he had to enter his biometrics instead of the floor number in the elevator, he assumed they had the floor to themselves, and that travelling between them wasn't common.

The elevator opened up to a beautiful open living space. There was a lowered area with a few couches and a giant television to the right, and to the left was a large kitchen with islands and barstools for eating at. It was all very pristine and clean. Scattered around were doors that had their names above them, with a separate lock on each one. He was glad that they would have privacy at least, he'd hate there to be the option for others to just walk in on him.

After taking in his surroundings, Alece walked towards his own room and unlocked it, going in. It was fully furnished, even having a balcony and plants littered around. He had never seen something this nice before, nevertheless lived in it. He put his stuff in drawers and cabinets, liking the fact that he had a private bathroom. Afterwards he went out to put his groceries away, and noticed that from this angle, he could see the cowboy from earlier sleeping on one of the sofas. Was he there this whole time?

Alece had light feet, so he tried to be quiet as he put away his groceries. He had to go out and get some more things, like sheets and bedding, so he tiptoed back to the elevator and started riding down.

He went to a store he saw on the way, stocking up on some of the things he would need. He decided to splurge a bit and buy some more clothes, since he only had about ten articles of clothing, most of them socks. He also bought some athletic shoes, since they did mention that they would be training. It felt nice to be able to shop a bit for himself. He had been squirreling money away for years, he really didn't feel the need to want anything outside of the basics. However, now that he had a bit of cash to himself, with the promise of more, he wanted to treat himself a bit.

It was weird, but things were seeming to look up. He had a job, albeit a risky and dangerous one, and a good place to live. Who knows, maybe he'll even make friends with his teammates. They were all quite eccentric, but they didn't seem like bad people. However, he did know that he wouldn't be able to tell them everything. 

He was, after all, working for the people that he had been trained to hate his whole life.

Not that he knew of STOP, but he knew and had first hand run ins with people that were against what CONTROL was about. He didn't doubt that the people who recruited him to this knew of his past, but that didn't mean that his teammates would. He wanted to turn over a new leaf, and really start fresh. He wanted to be better than his past. He couldn't do that if the past was looming over him, watching him, and affecting his current relationships. It wouldn't be fun, but he decided that he would have to come up with some other backstory for himself if he was asked about it.

Alece thought long and hard about what kind of story he'd share with the others, and by the time he got back to the apartment, he had one fairly down pat.

However, he did not come back to a quiet place like he anticipated. There was quite a bit of black luggage scattered about, and the small effeminate man from earlier was yelling at the cowboy, who had seemed to have been rudely woken up.

"You HAVE a bedroom! It literally is labeled to tell you which one's yours! Are you stupid? Can you even read?!" He shouted. He looked a bit embarrassed. Alece wondered if maybe he couldn't see the cowboy when he walked in, and he perhaps scared him with his arousal.

"Last thing I checked the whole floor belonged to us all. Is it against the fucking law for a man to sleep on his own couch?"

"Well... No... But why'd you shoot up when I walked in!! You're just TRYING to give me a heart attack!"

So Alece was right, he was pissed cause he got spooked. Somehow that was... Fairly funny.

"Listen pretty boy, just cause I scared you doesn't mean I'm in the wrong here. You're the one who woke me up with all your fucking luggage rolling everywhere. Did you pack a different outfit for each day of the month or something?" He said. He wasn't too off the mark there, there was quite a lot of luggage that seemed to all belong to the smaller man.

"Well like I said earlier, you have your own bedroom! If you wanted peace and quiet, you could have slept there."

Suddenly the door marked 'Cayanne' slid open, and the girl with highlights from before walked out, looking quite tired herself.

"If you're going to fucking be at each others throats, could you get a room and not be so fucking loud!? Some of us are trying to sleep!"

"Exactly!" The cowboy agrees. "She gets it."

The other man grumbled a bit and started collecting his luggage. "You wouldn't have been woken up if you were sleeping in your own room..."

One of the other rooms, with a door marked "Ephemera", Slid open as well, and the girl with her hair in a bun, her hair now loose and in braids, walked out. "Oh, I see everyone's here... Is there a problem?"

The cowboy rolled his eyes. "Not any of your business... What are you, a therapist?" He asked. She was dressed quite professionally, even though they were all in their own home and didn't seem to have any official plans.

She blushed a bit at that accusation, seemingly offended. "I'm just trying to help... I read quite a bit about altercation de-escalation..."

Cayanne chuckled a bit. "Can't learn how to fight from a book, sweetie."

"I-I know that! I know how to fight!" Ephemera retorted.

The gothic boy started to move his stuff into his room, shooting a glare at everyone, embarrassed he was caught yelling.

Alece wondered if every day would be like this... Seems like none of them got along.

After getting all his stuff in his room and putting it all where it was supposed to be, Alece walked out to get some food. He smelled something coming from the kitchen area, and saw Ephemera, the prissy girl from earlier, slaving away in the kitchen. There was some small tufts of smoke rising from the stove.

"Are you... Burning something?" Alece asked quietly, walking over.

The girl jolted a bit and turned back. Her large and curly dirty blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail behind her. She must have really spent a lot of time putting it in that pristine of a bun earlier... Even the braids she had had seemed like they wouldn't be able to contain it. Her green eyes locked with him and she looked rather sheepish.

"I'm not... Trying to. I guess I'm just not that good in the kitchen..." She said, head low. "I wanted to make something to eat... Maybe to share with everyone... Its just been burning though."

She moved a bit to the side to show that she was trying to make some kind of stir fry, but the pan was not slicked and so the things in it were just burning.

Alece went over and took the meat and veggies out, then grabbed the oil and put it in the pan, then putting the things in again.

"...If you don't slick the pan, it'll just burn up." He explained. He wasn't the best chef, but he did cook for him and Jaudi when they lived together at CONTROL.

Ephemera nodded and typed in her phone, making a note of that. Seems she really was a beginner.

"Thanks... Uh... You're.... Alece, right? I think that's the room you came out of..." She said sheepishly. He nodded. Seemed thats what the others were using to learn names, as well.

"Yeah, that's me. You're Ephemera? It's nice to meet you." He said, stirring the veggies and meat. They were perfectly cut, it wouldn't surprise him if he found out she used a rumor to make them all equal sizes. In fact, he thinks he sees one hidden under the fabric grocery bags.

She smiled a bit. She seemed to be relieved, probably because Alece was one of the only ones here who she hadn't heard yell. For someone that seemed straight laced like her, fighting amongst teammates was probably something that she wasn't prepared to handle, or even wanted to for that matter.

Little did she know how Alece grew up.

Alece ended up finishing up cooking everything, and then Ephemera walked plates to everyone's doors, offering it to them. She wasn't rejected, but they didn't seem too happy or interested.

The next week went by much the same, with everyone either being snippy with each other or awkward, and aside from Alece and Ephemera, no one had introduced themselves either. They were told that they were going to have to work as a team, but no one seemed interested in being friends outside of the job. Was everyone just taking it super seriously, or did they really not think they could get along?

Alece had mainly stayed in, sometimes eating a meal or two with Ephemera. She had kinda latched onto him, most likely because everyone else seemed to keep to themselves. They had learned each others names from which room they came out of, but that was as far as they had gotten with each other.

Soon, a week had passed, and it was time for them to meet their appointed mentor.


	5. The Mentor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks again for reading! this chapter stumped me a bit, and was a bit shorter than intended, but trust me when I say the next one will be really long! Due to the flow of the chapters I'm not going to break next chapter into multiple, but I hope to have it all out tomorrow! If not, don't worry, its just long and may take me two days!

They had all received messages on their room screens to meet in the living room at noon. So, when that time was approaching, everyone sat around on the couches, not speaking to each other. There was still a lot of tension between everyone, and Alece and Ephemera figured that there would be little to no way to get them to talk. They had resigned themselves to just having to deal with this. Alece didn't have a problem with not talking much to the others, but he did feel bad for Ephemera. She seemed to have high hopes for the team, but they let her down with their actions each and every day.

Suddenly the elevator dings, opening up to let them know that their mentor has arrived.

The man that walked through didn't fit a single one of their expectations. While many were expecting a well dressed person in a suit, this man had on a loosely fit knit sweater and jeans, all of which adding to his generally soft appearance. His dark skin was almost an exact match to his messy dark hair, and his brown eyes were framed with a pair of square glasses. As he walked, a clacking sound was made by him supporting himself using a bamboo cane, that looked like it had seen better days. His whole body seemed to use this cane, and it was obvious from his face and the way he moved that he had been injured before, most likely in more ways than physical.

When he gets to where he's standing at the front of the room, surrounded by all the couches, he looks around at them.

"I take it none of you get along too well." He started off, obviously able to read the room.

Ephemera piped up a bit. "We... Haven't even introduced ourselves really..." She said, meekly. She seemed to be the type to buckle under authority.

The man sighed a bit. "So this whole time you've been here, you don't even know each others names." He said. He was obvious that he wasn't asking, and his gaze seemed to make everyone shrink. 

"Well its not like everyone's been sunshine and roses." Cayanne peeked up, shooting a look at the others. "We just don't get along, what's the deal, it's not like we're going to kill each other on the job. Us getting along doesn't change our ability to work."

"W-well actually it-" Ephemera started, but Cayanne quickly piped up to retort.

"We're not friends, we don't need to be. We're coworkers, and it didn't say nowhere that we had to be buddies with each other."

Ephemera shrinked a bit at that, sighing. She was too tired to fight her on this, because it seemed deep down that even she agreed on that part.

Vex piped up a bit in agreement. "Our jobs will require us to use our abilities together, and as long as we're not sacrificing the integrity of the mission, getting along poses little use."

"Not like anyone would be able to get along with a little priss like you." Cahlen interjected under his breath, eliciting a pointed glare from Vex.

Vex spoke up to retort, and Cayanne and Ephemera started to argue about this as well, the situation growing tense and aggravated as the four of them kept bickering.

Finally, Alece couldn't take this anymore, and spoke up.

"So are we going to get on with training? It's obvious we don't get along." He said.

The others seem to quiet down, wanting to hear their instructors response to that. It seemed that that was one thing Alece could do, he could get them back on track.

The instructor sighed a bit and looked around at them. 

"Well, typically within the first week of living together, the teams are at least on a first name basis. Without a doubt this is the first group I've seen in a while that has been this prickly even after a week. So no, we will not be beginning training until you guys can learn to cohabitate."

Ephemera pipes up, seeming a bit panicked. "W-well we might develop natural bonds after training and-"

Once again, she's cut off.

"What we want here is teams that are STRONG. Not just in power, but in their reliance on each other. You can't just call out 'hey you' to the person you're expecting to keep you alive and expect them to save you in a pinch if you barely know them. Knowing and trusting your teammates is the basis for any group, without that bond or at least the beginning of one, sending you guys into the field would be suicide on our part. Every successful team in STOP at least has trust. Without it you're dead." He said pointedly, as if he had first hand experience with the subject.

Everyone stayed silent, with no more protesting. For all their arguments before, they knew that it was childish, and that he was right. Everyone, except for Cahlen, who kicked his legs on the coffee table in protest.

"If you give me a job I'll do it. I don't need to love these guys to get the job done. At the end of the day if the jobs done, doesn't matter if we come out alive, right?" He said.

Alece saw red, remembering holding Jaudi in his arms as he died. He stood up and glared at Cahlen. "Do you really have that little regard for our lives?! Are you really willing to just send others to their death so you can get ahead!?" He shouted, louder than he had talked in ages.

Hearing the quiet one shout like that surprised everyone, especially Cahlen. He sighed and looked aside, trying to come up with a retort.

Before he could, however, their teacher spoke again.

"Not quite the words I would have used, but I'm glad someone gets it. We want you alive. We're not going to sacrifice our operatives for a mission. We value you more than that." He said. 

"So with that, we're going to go around with some introductions. It may be cheesy, but you guys haven't done this before so we have to go elementary." He said, and grabbed a chair, pulling it so he could sit. "We're going to do our name, age, pronouns, and powers. For an example, I'll go first." 

"My name is Tybol Vale, I'm 32 years old, he/him, and I can shapeshift into animals. However, any injuries I have transfer to the animal form I go to, so I don't do it much anymore." He explained. "Now, who wants to go next?"

Ephemera shot up her hand, causing a condescending snicker from Cayanne. Tybol nodded at her to go ahead.

"My name is Ephemera Clements, I'm 21 years old, she/her pronouns, and I can use the powers of telekinesis." She said, smiling a bit. "I-It's nice to officially meet you guys..."

Vex decides to go next, leaning back against the couch. "Well, I'll go now. I'm Vex Borrs, 26 years old, I'll respond to any pronoun but I prefer he/him, even if I'm crossdressing. I can go invisible." He explains. Alece thinks to himself that that explains how sometimes he saw the fridge open on its own.

"My turn." The cowboy said, removing his hat and putting it on his lap. "I'm Cahlen Waterson, 23 years of age, he/him pronouns, and I have luck based powers. With just a bit of focus, I can help make something more likely to happen. It's a bit complicated, but I won't be useless." He smirked. He seemed to be confident in his powers.

Cayanne decides it's her turn, and speaks up next. "I'm Cayanne, don't got a last name and don't fucking want one. Call me anything other than Cayanne and I'll rip your throat out. I'm 24, she/her pronouns or you die, and I make flames." She said. She didn't seem to like explaining herself, and seemed very set on her identity, even defensive of it for some reason.

Everyone looks to Alece, and he realizes that he has to go now.

"I...I'm Alece Reens, I'm 22, he/him pronouns, and I can predict the future. Well... In a limited sense. I can only see about thirty minutes into the future, less if I'm unfocused. I also sometimes get prophetic dreams, but they're rare." He explained.

Tybol nodded a bit. "You all seem like you're confident in your abilities for the most part. That's good. There have been people here that barely know what they can do. It's nice to not have to do a bunch of aptitude tests. Do you guys want to share the experience you have with using your powers?" He asked, hoping to fuel a bit more conversation.

Cayanne raised her hand but immediately started to speak. "If some asshole tries to touch me or is rude, I light them on fire." She said with a wicked grin.

Tybol blinked a bit. "I think... That borders on being illegal."

"I'm kidding. Well, mostly. Sometimes a little spark is enough to send them running. I have to defend myself somehow!"

Vex couldn't help but chuckle. "I have similar experiences with people, and my powers can help me go un-noticed if i wish." He explained.

Cahlen smirked a bit. "So... Age old question. Can your clothes go invisible with you? Or whenever you're invisible are you just buck naked?" He asked, teasingly.

Vex blushed and pouted a bit. "...There's an online site that sells clothes and fabric made specifically for people with my power, and the clothes go invisible with us. If I'm not wearing something like that, my clothes will still show, so... I would have to strip. I make my own clothes out of special fabric though so I don't have to worry about that in the future!" He said, but his embarrassment betrayed him, letting on that he didn't always have the special clothes.

"Well, my powers are the greatest." Cahlen boasted. "I can make however much money I want at a casino, easy peasy!"

Tybol cocked an eyebrow. "And there's no drawback?" He said. Most powers were balanced in a way that kept them from being completely all powerful. Some peoples powers were even more like curses.

"Well, sometimes my powers fail catastrophically, but what's life without a little risk?" He smirked. "Its thrilling taking chances like that... Besides, if I let a little thing fail, the next thing is usually guaranteed to win! I'm not stupid about it." He explained.

Vex smirked at him. "Your prolific and all powerful abilities sure tell us lots when you've been wearing the same outfit all week. Or do you just have seven pairs of the same ratty blue jeans?" He asked.

Cahlen pouted and looked aside, the other obviously hitting a nerve.

"I-I just... Like this outfit a lot is all! I wash it!" He said, blushing a bit.

Cayanne snickered. "Yeah, I saw you standing buck ass naked at four in the morning in the laundry room. So either you're an exhibitionist or that really is your only outfit."

"Wouldn't you like to know."

Tybol sighed a bit. "I don't think the status of Mr. Watersons wardrobe has much to do with this team."

Vex shrugged. "You make a good point, but it is fun to tease him. So we have names all figured out, I feel all snuggly. Can we get on with training?" He asked.

"There's still one more team building exercise we're going to have you guys do. It will take most of the day, but if you finish early we can get on with your general fitness assessments." He explained, standing up, most of his weight going onto the cane. The others got up as well.

"Follow me." He said, and led them back to the elevator. He swiped on the control panel, manually typing in his information and the floor they were going to. It seemed that some people could have clearance to go wherever they wished. Was this Tybol man really that high up the rank?

The elevator descended quickly, going down from their fairly high floor to a floor that they could only assume was well underground. How far down did this elevator go?

Eventually they heard a soft 'ding' as the elevator doors slid open, revealing a hallway with many doors. Tybol walked down the hallway, stopping at one of them and unlocking it with a retinal scan. 

They all shuffled into the room, and inside they saw five virtual reality machines.

What on Earth were they going to have to do!?


	6. The Simulation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the formatting is weird, usually Ao3 auto-formats for me but this time it made me do it all manually. I'll try to fix it for next chapter!

Ephemera was the first to speak up, everyone slightly shocked that they were doing something virtual as a team building exercise.

"Are we doing... Combat simulations?" She asked, hoping it was something like that and not something that would be considered a waste of their talents.

However, none of them quite believed that that could be it, given that this was supposed to make them like each other more. Beating each other to a virtual pulp would be cathartic, but not exactly inspiring camaraderie.

"Nope." Tybol started explaining. "This is a simulation, but not the type you're thinking of."

Everyone looked around, a bit wary.

"You will be sent to a location that will not be revealed until you are strapped in. You will also be given an objective to complete, and you must all complete it together. No one should be left behind, or you all will fail. Am I clear? You must work TOGETHER."

They all nodded in understanding, but none of them seemed to look forward to it. In fact, all of their thoughts are plagued with trying to determine who's going to betray the team and make them lose.

"Now without further ado, please get strapped in. Once in the simulation you'll have a time limit, so you can't just mess around and do nothing the whole time." He explained to them.

Ephemera and Vex immediately went over to strap themselves in. The two of them were the most proactive of the team, while they were more demure than the others, they seemed to be competent enough at following orders.

The other three followed suit, and soon all of them were strapped in, the simulation starting to play before them.

When they arrive in the virtual landscape, they are alone in a simple blank room with a video screen in front of them.The video starts to play, mainly stock images and text to go along with the narration.

"Welcome to Island Escape. This simulation will take you and the other linked players to an abandoned island, and your objective is simple: using whatever techniques and powers you possess, escape the island as a team. There are many options for your escape, and you will have 5 hours to do so. Once every player is out of bounds, the game will end with your victory. If any player is ejected from the simulation or the time limit is not met, then you will all lose. Good luck!"

Suddenly, the video screen went away and they were sitting on the sand of a spacious island. There were lush greens and trees in the middle, and sea as far as the eye could see behind them. They exchange silent and worried glances. No one seems to want to address the objective or anything related to it.

However, Vex quickly stands up, brushing off the sand from his clothes. He starts to head towards the forest.

"Hey, where are you going?!" Cahlen calls out, frowning.Vex turned back to reply to him.

"Well as fun as it is anxiously sitting on the beach, we have five hours and I'd rather not waste them. I'm going to search for clues. Feel free to sit here and do nothing if you wish." He explained, heading out again.

Cahlen grit his teeth and got up, following him. "I'm coming too! Can't let you get all the credit..." He grumbled.

The other three sat there for a few minutes as they disappeared into the forest, but then Cayanne stood up.

"Ok assholes, start gathering some stones and sticks." She demanded, going around to gather some herself. She also ripped the bottom of her shirt and wrapped the fabric around her forehead, fashioning a makeshift headband to keep the hair from her eyes and catch sweat.

Alece noticed Epehemera's eyes linger a bit on the exposed skin, before getting up.

"What for?" She asked, standing up and brushing off her own outfit.

Cayanne smirked back at her. "We're gonna build a fuckin' S.O.S.!" She said confidently.

Alece cocked an eyebrow, but went to collect the stuff.

"What's an S.O.S.?" Ephemera asked, using her powers to start bringing some twigs and stones over to where they were.

"Glad you asked!" The fiery girl replied, seeming to really want to explain."See, back in ancient times, when ships would wreck and crash on islands, they'd make huge fires and messages for help out of rocks. That way if there was any kind of aircraft or other ships, they'd either see the smoke or the message!" She explained cheerfully.

"Well, no guarantees it'll work, but it gives us something to do while the others try to get information."

Ephemera kept gathering materials. "How do you know that stuff? I did a lot of studying in my youth but even I wasn't aware of that tradition..." She asked.

Cayanne started arranging the stones in a HELP formation, and put the sticks in a pile as she explained. "Well, I didn't get any fancy kinda education, but the library was right next to where I lived so when I had spare time I'd borrow old books. It was basically a museum for the time before the Great Migration, but it was really interesting. That's how I learned traditional English, too! While Common is all we need now, it's still fun to know more than one language! I particularly liked old shipwreck stories, the idea of building and surviving from nothing really resonated with me, you know?" She grinned. Seems this kinda situation was fun to her, which explained why she was in a good mood all of a sudden.

Ephemera seemed a bit star struck, and a faint blush was noticeable on her cheeks. She smiled a bit as she kept on gathering. "I'm sorry, I seemed to have misjudged you earlier..." She said sheepishly.

Cayanne went over and pat her shoulder. "Hey, I wasn't any better. I felt like everyone was judging me, and it put me on the defensive. Sorry I was a dick too." She smiled at her. Ephemera smiled back, the blush spreading.

After spending a bit more time collecting the materials and assembling them, they had a nice looking message and a huge pile of sticks.

"Well, ready to light it up!" Cayanne said, proud of her work. Ephemera and Alece stood back, as to not be caught by the flame. The fire using girl walked up to the stack of sticks and put her hand in the bottom middle, creating a flame that soon started engulfing the pile, making a long cloud of smoke and ash rise up to the fake sky.

Alece and Ephemera watched in wonder, hoping this would work. Cayanne went near them and sat back down, laying in the artificial sun.

"Alright, now we wait." She said, closing her eyes and relaxing.

Ephemera sat down next to her, and looked at Alece.

"Hey," She started, Alece looking over from where he was standing to listen better. "You have prophetic powers, right? Think you could look into the future to see if this works?" She asked.

Alece nodded and sat down next to them. "Yeah, just make sure nothing disrupts my concentration while I search the near future." He said, crossing his legs and placing his hands on his knees, a position he found helped him concentrate the most. The others nodded and he closed his eyes to get to work.

He focused his thoughts, and activated his powers. The world around him became visible, there was no audio but he could see things happening around the space he was currently. Everything was normal for the first bit, but then about twenty or so minutes into the future, a helicopter was shown overhead. It was spiraling out of control and crashed on the opposite side of the island, the ground shaking as it collided with land.

Once he saw that, he opened his eyes and scanned the sky, wondering if it was visible now. He doubted it, it was probably out of bounds until it was about to crash...He shot up and looked back at them, trying to piece his words together to explain it. He wasn't the best with vocalizing his thoughts, it was easier for him to just bark orders at underlings who didn't need to know additional information. Explaining himself to people who had every right to know the information was something that was new and challenging for him.

"I... There's going to be a helicopter." He started to explain.

"What? So that's it? We just needed a big ass flame and some rocks and we're going to get rescued? That's pretty simple..." Cayanne said, wondering if there was going to be more trials on the helicopter, maybe trying to convince them to take them.

"No, no!" Alece said, taking a deep breath as he tried to get his words out. "It comes, but as soon as it gets close it crashes down. Over there, at the other side of the island." He explained. "Twenty seven minutes and thirteen seconds from when I started viewing the future."

"So we should head over there." Ephemera started to explain. "Well, not immediately. We don't want to be at the site when it crashes down, we could get hurt. I'm assuming if any of our virtual selves die, it ejects us from the simulation and considers it a failure. So we should keep our distance until the time comes."

Cayanne nodded in agreement at Ephemera's idea, earning a smile from the smaller girl. "Yeah, well, first things first we need to find the other two knuckleheads and let them know whats happening. Last thing we want is for them to already be over there and not know that they're about to be minced meat between helicopter blades."

Ephemera and Alece grimaced at that mental image, but they nodded in agreement."Let's go find them then." She said, the other two standing up and following her into the woods.

\----

"God fucking damnit!" Cahlen said after a while of walking, looking down at his shirt. The red plaid garment had lots of holes in it, tears from the brush. He was taller than his walking companion by a few heads, so some of the brush that couldn't affect Vex much was really digging into Cahlen's attire.

"What's wrong?" Vex asked, stopping in a clearing and turning back. The forest that they were walking through was dense. It made sense, it was supposed to be an untouched and uninhabited island, so it's not like they could expect walking trails. Pain receptors were realistic, though, due to the nature and advancement in the VR technology that they were using.

"My shirt's all fucked up... Fuck this is my favorite shirt!" Cahlen whined, his dark and hairy chest semi visible through the holes. Vex cocked an eyebrow at him.

"You know this is a simulation, right? When we get back to the real world your shirt will be perfectly intact." He explained. "You're not so vain that you have to look perfect even in something like this, are you?" He asked, smirking.

Cahlen pouted at that jab. "It's not about vanity it's about looking presentable! I don't like walking around in tattered clothes, makes me feel gross. I thought someone as self absorbed as you would understand that!" He said, taking his shot back at him.

Vex looked down and sighed. "I guess I can understand, but at least I know that the likelihood that anyone of concern is watching and judging our appearances now is slim... Hold on I think I have something that can help." He said, walking closer to him. On his shirt was quite a few safety pins, mostly in place to keep some of the lace of his chiffon top from getting out of place as he walked around. For being someone who claimed not to be vain, he put a lot of effort in making sure everything he was wearing stayed in place.

He removed a couple safety pins and started to close up the holes on Cahlen's shirt, pinning them closed.

"It's not perfect, but at least the bigger holes should remain closed for the remainder of the simulation..." He said, looking incredibly focused.

Cahlen looked down at him and chuckled slightly. "You're really good at all this clothes stuff, huh?" He said, almost sounding like he was giving him a compliment. Almost.

Vex blushed slightly and tucked some of his shaggy hair behind his ear, embarrassed at suddenly receiving a compliment of sorts. "Well I've had to make my own clothes since I was young... None of the online invisi-brands had anything I liked. If I wanted to express myself to my fullest extent while still retaining the ability to use my powers, I had to make my own clothes." He explained. "I like more feminine types of clothes. I'm not quite genderqueer, but I am kinda non-binary. I still like being a guy, but wearing what I want and being seen as me is important to me, if that makes sense." He said. "Sorry, I didn't realize how long I went off... I must sound weird to you."

Cahlen shook his head and patted Vex on the top of his head. "Don't worry, I think it's kinda cool how much effort you put into being who you want to be. There's something downright neat about you taking all this clothes stuff in your own hands. I just wear the same thing all the time, and I get made fun of cause this is the big city and no one really wears this anymore. So I guess I understand." He said.

Vex finished mending the holes and chuckled, looking up at him. "Guess we have more in common than we thought." He said. Cahlen's heart skipped a beat at how he was looking at him, and they stood there in a bit of a loaded silence for a few more moments, not moving apart or removing their hands from each other.That was, until the others ran up.

"Hey! There you are..." Ephemera said, panting a bit. The two men immediately pulled apart from each other, both with a bit of red on their cheeks. Nothing like being caught in a moment.

"What's up, did something happen?" Vex asked, going over and helping Ephemera get some of the twigs and leaves out of her hair. It seemed she ran up to catch up with them, as Alece and Cayanne walked up a few moments later.

Cayanne answered. "Future boy here saw a helicopter in our future. In about twenty minutes we're gonna have visitors, in that direction." She said, pointing to the side of the island where Alece saw the crash. "We wanted to catch up with you to let you know. Don't want you caught up in the crash."

Cahlen nodded. "Thanks... So that seems like it should be our next task. If we can get to that helicopter, it might be a way off the island, or at least give us some more clues to what to do next, ya reckon?" He asked the others.

They all seemed to agree. "We should try to find a place nearby where it's gonna crash to hang out until it happens. Doesn't seem like we have really anything else to do until then, unless you two found some sort of clue?" Cayanne asked, looking at the other two. They shook their heads.

"Just a bunch of brush. It's obvious this was not meant to be an easily traversed forest, however it does all feel fairly flat, aside from a small hill near where you say the crash is going to happen." He explains.

Ephemera perked up. "Maybe there's a cave or something around there... Or at the very least we can watch from the hill?" She suggested.

Vex nodded. "Yeah, that's a good idea. If we find somewhere nearby with either shelter or leverage, it would be a good place to wait." The others agreed and they started to walk in that direction. It was a fairly silent walk, except for the explicatives shouted by Cahlen and Cayanne, the tallest ones in the group, who had to deal mostly with the low hanging spikey branches. This was not a friendly forest.

Soon they arrived to the hill, and luckily enough, there was a small cave entrance facing the beach. "That's the beach I saw in my vision..." Alece said, recognizing a few of the rocks that would soon be covered by a fiery helicopter. "Great, then we can relax in the cave and wait for the helicopter to come down." Cayanne said, taking a large branch from a tree and lighting the tip of it with her flame, walking inside the cave. Everyone else followed, sitting around where Cayanne had set down the branch, a makeshift campfire for their excursion.

The tall girl chuckled as she threw some flammable things in the fire to keep the cave lit. "This reminds me of when I'd go camping with my siblings... We'd mainly go in our backyard, but we'd always love seeing how big we could make the fire before we'd get in trouble. I'd always be yelled at by my mom, since unlike me, my siblings weren't fireproof."

"You're fireproof?" Vex asked, eyes watching the flame, entranced by it along with the others. "Well, the heat can still give me fever and the lack of oxygen can still cause me to suffocate and die, but the direct flames on my skin can't hurt me. I wish I could afford some of that fireproof clothing, cause then I could just walk around in fire for fun!" She grinned.

Vex chuckled. "If you get me the fabric, I can make you some. I brought all my sewing supplies... I figured during our missions it'd help to have clothing made for the situation." He explained. "That goes for everyone, if you need a specific article of clothing made, I don't mind lending my skills. I sew to de-stress usually."

"Thanks, I'll have to keep that in mind!" Ephemera said. She was obviously a bit happy that everyone seemed to be marginally getting along better.Which, they were. It was subtle, and it wasn't like they were all suddenly best friends, but seeing each other's skills used to help the situation at hand kinda broke away the initial hostility.

"So... Why do you reckon it was us that were chosen?" Cahlen said, tossing rocks against the wall of the cave idly."What do you mean?" Ephemera asked. "It's an honor we were selected..."

"Not saying it's not, but I take it they don't pick people willy nilly. I keep thinking about what Vex said at that first meeting, is it really true that none of us would be missed if we happened to die on the field?" He wondered aloud.

Ephemera went quiet at that, but Cayanne picked up the silence."Well, maybe, but I mean, that just makes it easier for us to have this secret life. Maybe it's not like they're trying to see us as replaceable, but maybe they saw us as the type of people who needed this chance. I know I sure did..."

"Yeah, I guess that could be true. It could be a stroke of benevolence..." Vex continued. "However, we might just have the type of powers they're looking for. I doubt they know what each of our dreams or aspirations were before this, but maybe the fact that we're nobodies that needed this along with the fact that we have useful abilities made us good options?"

"I know I don't like the idea that they looked into me, but I can't deny that I really didn't have any other prospects before this..." The cowboy said. "My power's more abstract, being luck based and all, and having a huge fucking weakness, but I guess it does come in handy sometimes."

"What's the weakness?" Ephemera asked, perking up and curious. He hadn't mentioned his weakness before, but everyones power's had some kind of drawback, so it made sense for it to exist. A lot of powers had obvious drawbacks, like Alece and Cayanne needing concentration to use their powers, or Vex's inability to make his clothes go transparent along with his body, but Cahlen had a rarer power, so everyone would be lying if they weren't just as curious as Ephemera.

"Well... It's a bit hard to explain, but I'll try." Cahlen sight. "Think of my power having like... a counter. It starts at 100, like there's a 100% chance that it'll go well, the luck will apply and the situation will turn out well. Each time I use my power and depending on the intensity of the last time I used it, that percent goes down. So lets say I'm playing slots, and I use my power to give me a good roll. At 100%, I get a jackpot. Next time I use my power, it's at 95%. That means there's a five percent chance I lose everything, or the machine breaks. When my power fails, depending on the stakes of what I was increasing, it could fail hard. Each time the power is successful, the percent lowers. However, each time it fails, the percent resets. So after I fail, I have a 100% chance of succeeding the next time."

"So... You have to use your powers carefully." Vex nodded. "But that sounds like it's easy to counter, when you get low enough, just do something incredibly low stakes with your power, and you can reset it for a guaranteed win, right?"

Cahlen paused for a bit, then responded. "...Yeah, something like that." His pause made it obvious there was more to tell about this, but he looked to be done talking for a bit.

Suddenly, a large crash is heard outside and the air around them gets hot. The helicopter had came down and crashed on the beach, the entire thing engulfed in flames.

Everyone shot up and headed out to the wreckage, coughing as the smoke filled their lungs.

"Great!" Cahlen shouted. "It's our ticket out of here and the whole thing just fucking blew up!"

"Hey now...!" Cayanne smirked at them. "Stand back, a little fire won't stop me from going in! Ephemera, can you use your powers on liquids?!" She shouted out, the alarms from inside the helicopter blaring and making it hard to hear along with the roar of the fire.

Ephemera nodded and got the idea, lifting about a buckets worth of water out of the sea, moving it quickly to the flames, trying to put them out. She steadied her footing and kept going, the panic from the fire enhancing her powers.

Cayanne tosses out a fire extinguisher at Cahlen's feet. "Use your powers to aim better!" She shouted at him as she kept rooting around the interior, trying to see if there was anything else that could immediately be used. Cahlen nodded and closed his eyes for a moment, before opening them, their brown color being replaced with an ethereal green. He then pointed the nozzle at the fire and started to spray, helping Ephemera deal with the flames.

Alece tried to move forward to see what he could do, but Vex stopped him.

"Don't go out there yet, I'm going to need you once they get the fire down and we can't have you injured."

"Me?" Alece blinked. "What do you need me for?"

"Well, when they get the fire out, I have enough basic knowledge of this kinda tech to hotwire it. However, I'm not a helicopter expert, so I don't know what wires to use to do so. So I'm going to need you to peek in the future and tell me what ends up working so I can get the helicopter off the ground." He explained with a smirk.

Alece nodded, and once the fire was out they all climbed into the cockpit.

"Ok Alece, scan the next few minutes." Vex commanded.

Doing as he was told, Alece sat down in the chair that had just held a dummy (they apparently didn't simulate any real people into this craft) and closed his eyes. He watched the next few minutes go before him, with Vex trying cords, and right after a pair worked the entire helicopter crackle with electricity, shocking all of them to collapse. The shock made Alece jolt back to the present, panting.

"We need... To dry off the helicopter. At least the inside... The water and electricity from the jump doesn't mix well." He explained, taking off his shirt to start wiping down the wet surfaces. Everyone nodded and quickly did the same, using any extra layers of clothes they had to mop up some of the moisture. It took a bit for them to get it all, but eventually they all returned to the front and Alece rescanned the future, finding it clear.

"Ok... White and blue cords." Alece said, having seen that those were the ones that would work. "Those will jumpstart the engine and get us up in the air."

Vex crossed the two wires, and everything sparked to life, this time without hurting them in the process. "Great, now I just have to figure out how to fly this thing!" He chuckled, sitting back in the captain's chair, flipping a few switches until the blades started to turn, and they lifted off the ground. It was shaky getting up in the air, and everyone held on for dear life, since the doors had fallen off in the crash.

"C'mon Vex, be careful!" Cayanne hissed, clinging tight to the rack near the ceiling."Sorry, I've only really done this in games...." He admitted sheepishly. However, soon they were up high enough to get going, and Vex started flying off in a random direction.

"Do you think they care which direction we go?" Ephemera asked, still holding on tight. Even though it was relatively safe once Vex was going forward, she still had... A bit of a fear of heights.

"They just said out of bounds, so I think that once we cross that threshold it doesn't matter which direction we went. It's not like we have to go to a specific location." Vex explained, continuing to fly semi-steadily in the clear blue sky.

"I hate admitting it, but the view is pretty nice... People usually don't go overseas often anymore..." Cahlen smiled, looking down at the water.

"Yeah, with the trans-atlantic rails in place, there's really no reason to fly... The rail goes underwater, so you see a very different view." Ephemera explained.

"You've been overseas, huh?" Cayanne smirked at Ephemera.

"W-well yeah... I went on vacation once." She explained."Lucky... Maybe with this job I'll be able to afford to go somewhere fun." She replied. While before this she would have probably called her some rude name, it seemed that the tensions between all of them were lighter.

"Does anyone happen to have the time?" Vex asked, not able to check anything since he was playing pilot.

Alece, who wore a watch at all times out of time related anxiety, looked down at his wrist. "It's... Been about four hours since we started." He explained.

"Four hours, huh... Hope it doesn't take more than an hour to fly out of bounds." Vex explained, yawning a bit.

Cahlen looked down at him. "Need to switch? It doesn't look that difficult to fly and you look beat."

Vex shook his head. "No, thanks. I just didn't get much sleep last night. I'll be fine, I didn't really do anything useful aside from hotwire this thing, so I can handle at least getting us over the finish line." He smirked.The rest of them fell into a comfortable silence, watching the clouds and waves go by as they headed towards the invisible line of success.

Eventually, they appeared in the black room from the beginning, a voice speaking to all of them at once, even though they were in different rooms.

"Congratulations! You have unlocked the helicopter ending! You made it off of the island in four hours and forty nine minutes. The simulation will end in five seconds."

The countdown played, and when it reached the end, the screen went black.


	7. The Testing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fixed the formatting problem!! Again, thanks for reading!

The first thing they saw when they climbed out of the VR macines was Tybol, walking towards them and clapping.

"Well done. I've heard that that's the easiest ending to get, but nonetheless, you guys did a good job in completing it before the time was up." He said, turning off the machines. They were a few years outdated, but the simulation had been realistic enough.

"So what's next?" Ephemera asked. The air wasn't quite as tense around everyone like it was before, but everyone was still definitely coping with the difference between the simulation and reality. Simulation sickness wasn't too uncommon, but everyone seemed to be doing alright.

"Well, we still have time in the day, so we're going to head to a training level and do some basic evaluations." Tybol began to explain, gesturing for them to follow him back into the elevator. "Nothing too difficult, and it's not like you can fail, but this will be your beginning scores that you will need to work on improving over the next couple of weeks. Don't get stressed about it, but do give it your all." He said, although from the look on some of their faces, he knew that they would be stressing over it anyways.

The elevator took them down to a more open concept floor, with glass rooms meant for training and locker rooms to the side. "In the locker rooms should be a basic workout outfit, they won't be the prettiest but having everyone uniform makes the scores less biased. Or so I was told." He said, the clack of his cane echoing through the room as he sat in front of one of the glass areas, typing away at a console. "Come back here when you're done changing." He commanded.

They quickly went to the unisex changing rooms and slipped into the uniforms. They were only in basic sizes, so on Vex, the mens medium he picked out looked kinda big and long, while the same size on Cahlen fit him high and snug. This is why people tended to have more direct measurements for their clothes nowadays. However, for a single use piece of clothing like this, it was easier just to make a few sizes and hope people made do.

When they all returned, they walked over to Tybol, who had finished setting the room up. Beyond the glass was a medium sized track.

"First off, we're testing your speed. After that we will do endurance, then strength, then you will be tested based on your powers. In the week since you've been hired in this position, they created personalized tests to check your aptitude with your abilities." So, Who wants to start us off?" He asked, looking at them.

Vex walked forward, volunteering. "I'll go. I did the least physical activity in the last test, so I'll give the others a break and go first now." He said with a smile.

"Great, you'll go through that door and do one sprint around the track. A speaker will count down when you're able to start." He explained.

Vex went down and stretched a bit, standing at the starting line, getting ready to go.

Cahlen turned to Cayanne and smirked. "Hey, wanna bet on who does the best? Five bucks on Ephemera..."

Cayanne cocked an eyebrow. "Fine, you're on. I'll make you eat your words." She smirked back.

The speaker counted down, and the race was off.

Sprinting was fairly uneventful, but their times did display on the screen when they were done, so by the time everyone had finished, it was clear who had done the best.

Cahlen lost his bet and hung his head low, while Ephemera held the top time for a bit, Alece, surprising everyone, had the best time.

Alece hoped they didn't pry about his athleticism, hoping he wouldn't have to confess that when he was in CONTROL, he did training like this a lot and had gotten fairly good at running, at least.

Luckily, everyone seemed too busy ribbing Cahlen to focus on him. That was one of the benefits of the cameradere that had built in the simulation, since they had a slightly higher sense of trust with each other they wouldn't be as likely to jump into accusations. Alece made a mental note of this, maybe he should try being more social with the others.

The next two tests went about nearly the same way. With the strength test, they had them simply lift some weights to see their capabilities. Cahlen had bet on himself, being the most physically imposing of the group, but in reality it was Cayanne who was packing the most muscle. She almost nearly doubled what Cahlen's max was. She then explained that it was because she had to do a lot of lifting in her past jobs, and again, no one pried. One thing that Alece noticed was unless information was volunteered, everyone seemed to at least respect the boundary of not asking unnecessary questions. Maybe he wasn't the only one hiding something...

Endurance was the next test, and Cahlen voted for Alece, thinking that since he did good on the race, he'd do good on this one, which was a treadmill run. However, Ephemera stole the spotlight. Even though she had a bit more weight on her than the others, she seemed to be well rounded in terms of ability and could persist if needed. While she didn't excel in weights or running fast, she had a lot of stamina and if she paced herself, she could probably out perform them all. 

With three for three losses and a lump amount of money owed to Cayanne, Cahlen sighed.

"Ok, now's the power test, right? What do we have to do?" He asked, anxious to at least try for a double or nothing.

Tybol nodded. "It is indeed. The task will change depending on who is doing the test. Ephemera, you're up first." He said, leading them to a room filled with objects of various sizes. Some of the objects were light, while some of them were extremely heavy looking. Anything from a pillow to a vehicle was inside of the room. The room was two tiered, with one empty ledge up high that had enough space to fit everything, and the objects in the bottom area.

"As you're probably assuming," Tybol began "You must move each object from the lower area up to the upper area using your power. There will be no passing or failing with these tests, they are mainly to gauge your aptitude and where you need to work more. Please, do your best."

Ephemera looked nervous, but walked into the room, closing the glass door behind her.

She surveyed the room. This was just like the training she grew up with, except now there was less pressure to be perfect. She started with the lighter objects, concentrating and lifting them up multiples at a time to place gingerly up on the ledge. She could lift multiple objects at once, but targeting specific multiple objects was a bit of a challenge. She found an area with a bunch of feather-light things and stood in the middle, lifting them all up in a radius around her. This was so much easier, targeting her power caused increase fatigue, but letting it flow and affect lots of things around her was less strenuous. 

She did a few more circles of objects, sometimes moving things together to help her get more at once. After about ten minutes, all that was left was a few furniture items, some small but heavy weights, and the small, broken down vehicle.

She went up to the weights, testing it out by lifting up one at a time. It was a bit wobbly, the heavier the object the harder it was to lift it. However, since it was relatively small, she could just focus her powers in one central location, and was able to get the weights up on the ledge.

Next was the scattered furniture items. She went up to a table, which was fairly light yet big and awkward, and tried her best to lift it. It spun around a bit, wobbling too and fro, but she was able to lift it up. The rest of the furniture was much the same, and when she was done she was holding her head. However, she couldn't quit now. She still had to move the vehicle.

Steeling herself, she decided to use her trump card. She hadn't told anyone about this, but when her emotions went haywire, so did her powers. She had been working on being able to channel and funnel her emotions into strength, but sometimes when she did this, she couldn't control it. However, her desire to win and be successful here overrode her common sense. She recited words in her head that were shouted at her over her childhood, uncapping all the repressed rage she had at those who forced perfection from her, taking a long and angry huff, she yelled out loud and thrust her hands forward, the vehicle slamming upwards against the ceiling, then forwards and into the pile, making a loud crashing noise on impact.

Her hair, which tended to react to her powers, had flung aside the ponytail holder and was now wild and free. She took a deep breath and walked back up to the others, sitting down when she got out. 

"So... Did I pass?" She asked, a harsh tone in her voice showing that she still wasn't over the outburst.

The others were honestly taken aback by how she had let loose in there, but Tybol was able to remain composed as he nodded.

"Yes... I have to say you did really well. The vehicle was mainly put in there to see if you could even lift it slightly, it was rather impressive how you got it to target. Congratulations, you've more than passed this assessment." He smiled at her.

She smiled to herself, calming down as she sat in her chair. Cayanne pat her back, having an unspoken solidarity with a fellow emotionally repressed girl.

Tybol presses a button and the room behind the glass seems to move on a conveyor belt, another room appearing in its place. This room has various items made of cardboard or wood, and Cayanne stood up from where she was sitting.

"Lemme guess, I go in there and burn it all down?" She asked Tybol.

He nodded. "Precisely. You must, however, stand on the spot marked. You cannot move from that spot, and will be considered successful if you manage to burn everything to ashes in the room."

The girl nodded and walked in, cracking her knuckles and neck as she prepared. Once the green light was given, she shot long streams of fire out of her hands, covering everything in the room. She didn't waste time in getting the cardboard lit, and once it was all burning nicely she worked on the wooden structures. She started from the base, then skipped the middle and went to the top of them, hoping the fire would travel through the middle faster that way. She looked fairly bored at this, as if it was common for her to wreak fiery havoc around her. 

While the buildings burned, she switched up her tactics to chucking fireballs at them, hoping the force would collapse them and make them easier to crumble. All in all, it took about fifteen minutes before Cayanne was standing surrounded by a pile of crackling embers and ash. When she was satisfied, she walked out of the room, some of the ash on her body still.

"So? How'd I do?" She asked, confident.

"Well, you took a bit longer than the simulation projected, but all in all you did well." Tybol responded.

"Took longer!? That was hard wood I had to burn! Fuckin overachievers..." She grumbled, sitting back down with a pout. She had won, but she wasn't satisfied with not being the best.

"Alece, you're up next." Tybol said, the room moving on a conveyor again, this time to an empty room with a chair and a screen.

"What am I doing?" He asked, having some ideas but not wanting to assume.

"Well, you're going to sit in the chair and must call out the next number that is going to be shown. You have five seconds, and the number could appear at any point in time. When you guess, the number will show immediately." He explained.

It was simple enough, so Alece went and sat down.

The test was very boring, and Alece felt a bit cheated that he didn't get to do something showy like the others. However, he was able to predict the numbers, although it left him with a nasty headache.

When he walked out, Tybol offered him some water and pain relievers. "Sorry if that was tough, we just want to confirm what you're able to do." He said with an apologetic smile. He may be hard on them and have authority, but Tybol didn't seem like a bad guy.

Alece accepted the aid and sat down.

"Vex, your turn." Tybol said as the room changed once more. This time the room looked like a maze, with lots of surveillance cameras pointing along the narrow halls.

Tybol didn't wait to explain. "You're going to turn invisible and must eliminate each of the cameras without detection. When you first enter the room there will be a changing room to your right that has an outfit that will work with you, so don't worry about that."

Vex cocked an eyebrow. "Does it matter how I eliminate the cameras?"

"No, but they are fairly rudimentary and fragile, so just crushing it would work. They're not meant to be strong." He explained.

The small man nodded and went down, changing into the outfit. When he came out he activated his powers, and when he was given the go-ahead, he went through the maze silently, everyone watching as one by one the cameras were all destroyed. It didn't take him long, and soon enough he appeared back at the start, and changed back into the other outfit.

He came back up, grumbling a bit. "That outfit was so itchy... Next time I'll wear my own clothes for a drill."

Tybol chuckled. "I'll see if it's allowed. Cahlen, you're up next. Are you ready?"

Cahlen had been napping in the chair when he was called, standing up and nodding. "Yeah, my turn?" He asked.

The room changed once more, this time it was an empty room except for a chair and a large roulette wheel. Cahlen's eyes lit up at the cool looking device.

"Your task is simple. You have a starting amount of funds, as shown on the screen on the wall. You are to use your powers to increase your odds and turn 100 into 10,000."

Cahlen shot his fist in the air and cheered. "FINALLY something fun around here!" He leapt out of his seat and went down to the table, placing a bet.

He bet all 100 out the gate.

His eyes were glowing green as he managed to get it up to a thousand with a single bet. If you got the specific number you bet on correct, it was 10x reward.

Cahlen kept using his powers, betting everything each time. He seemed to forget everything as his now green eyes captivatingly watched as the roulette animation played.

He was at nine thousand points, one more good bet and he would be solid. Everyone watching knew about his weakness, and were watching anxiously. They willed him to take a smaller bet until his powers reset, but Cahlen was all about the risk.

Sliding the betting scale, he put it all in, and pressed the start.

Suddenly, a crackle was heard as the machine went on the fritz. It sparked and fizzled, and eventually with a loud sound, it short circuited and began to smoke, shutting down completely.

"God DAMNIT!" Cahlen shouted, punching the machine. "I was so close too...!" He sighed, grumbling to himself as he walked out.

Everyone looked at him, a bit of concern on their faces. They were all wondering why he didn't take a safer route, but some of them understood better than others. Namely Vex and Cayanne didn't seem that surprised at the results.

Tybol cleared his throat, breaking the awkward silence. "Well... I regret to inform you of this, but you did not pass. Luckily, this test has nothing to do with your standing with the organization. However, you should be aware of your shortcomings and anticipate a need for smaller uses of your power. We will have to train you more on this." He said to him, voice sounding a bit concerned.

"Yeah, yeah. I fucked up, can we go now? Or is there any other stupid test you need to put us through?" He asked.

Tybol sighed. "No no, you're free to return home. I'll be back tomorrow to go over how we plan to proceed with training. Good job today everybody." He smiled, getting up and starting to walk away.

Still tense from Cahlen's outburst, everyone wordlessly changed back into their original attire and headed back to their floor.


	8. The Training Montage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, had a rough weekend! But I should be back to daily updates now!!

Cahlen heard a knock on his door.

Not expecting any visitors, he feared the worst. He went up and slid the door open.

"What do you want? Here to make fun of me?" He asked his visitor, already feeling at the lowest of the low since his embarrassing failure earlier.

Cayanne pushed past and sat on the bed.

"Not my intention, but if you're hankering for a roast, I'll oblige." She smirked.

Cahlen cocked an eyebrow, obviously not in the mood for jests.

"Look." Cayanne started. "I just wanted to say that I understand. I'm sorry that you had to publicly go through that." She said with a frown.

The cowboy wasn't expecting that. "What do you mean? I was given a task and I failed, nothing to cry about." He said, trying to seem cool and collected, although the worry lines on his face were betraying his bravado.

"I used to be addicted to drugs. Anything I could get ahold of that would numb my feelings I'd put in my body, no questions asked. I was weak to them, I thought they were my ticket into a better life. That if I just took more, found the perfect one, everything would feel ok again." 

Cahlen sat down next to her on the bed, sighing.

"I can quit whenever I want... I just want to make the most of my money. If I'm given ten perles and can turn it into twenty, isn't that a sound investment?" He explained, obviously in a bit of denial.

Cayanne frowned and smacked him upon the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" He pouted.

"Idiot... You may think you're in control right now but your brain isn't letting you think rationally. It's an actual sickness, dude. You can't just will it away. Do what you want, but just know that if you don't straighten things up now, later down the line you're gonna lose more than a days worth of pay to your problem." She said, standing up.

"I'm not gonna preach for hours about how you should quit, that has to come from you. But just know, I'm here. We may not know each other well but you're the one who hasn't pissed me off the most. If you need a distraction or someone to make sure you don't fuck up more I'd be willing to help. I'm paying it forward from those who helped me." She said, ruffling his hair before walking out. "Just think about it, ok?" She smiled, leaving the room.

Cahlen sat back and thought deeply to himself, before falling asleep.

\----

The next day they were given more training to do. Instead of testing, they were given drills and exercises to increase their abilities. They'd run along the track as a group, do some lifting, and learn more about the daily gym routines they would have to do during the week every day. 

Alece noticed that tensions seemed to be a bit alleviated. After the time in the simulation and the training yesterday, they seemed to at least be more willing to have conversations with each other. Alece still held back from getting too close, but even he was having a bit of a good time.

After spending a whole day getting used to the gym facilities and learning how to get there and activate the simulation machines for times they wish to train solitary, they went home, sore. Ephemera roped Alece into cooking again, and they all ate and watched TV. They didn't have super deep conversations, but it wasn't as tense.

The next day and the rest of the week were split. They'd train in the morning, then they would do grunt work around the community in the afternoon. It wasn't anything super fancy, it was more along the lines of updating cameras, cleaning up after others' missions, and other things like that. Grunt work. It shocked Alece how many cameras were around the city... People didn't approve of this much surveillance but they were being watched without their knowledge... It was unsettling. How much did STOP control?

During the week of this, Alece had noticed that friendships began to blossom. Cayanne and Cahlen became drinking buddies, usually sitting in front of the television with some beer as they watched sports and complained about different teams. No one really predicted that they would be close, but they seemed to have a friendly rapport going on.

Ephemera, Vex, and Alece were also getting closer. As the more serious people in the group, while cooking and eating they would bounce mission ideas with each other. While they didn't really have a clue what they would really be doing, they seemed to have fun coming up with scenarios and trying to figure out ways for the team to win. One of them would keep throwing harder and harder criteria, and the other two would fire back with ways around it. Alece liked this because they didn't ask questions on how he was good at this, but he found out that with his criminal background it was very easy for him to figure out escape routes and other puzzles. He found himself smiling more and more, something he hadn't done in ages.

As another week of drills and grunt work and training goes by, Alece keeps feeling like he wants to come clean. He wants to tell them his background, and wants them to accept him and understand. He feels like hiding from them is holding him back from being friends with them, but he knew that if he told them and they rejected him that he wouldn't be able to earn back that kinda trust easily. He might even be wholly rejected, kicked out of the group. It scared him how much it would break him to lose this, how dependant he had gotten on being here and doing good. He had to suppress those feelings and just focus on being better from now on. If he could prove himself then maybe they would accept him anyways...

After the second week of this routine, Tybol told them that they were to meet the next day at the main base, the place they had originally got recruited. They were to go to the same room to be debriefed on their first mission. After going home for the day, Ephemera seemed to be extremely nervous, pacing around the kitchen.

"Why are you freaking out? It's the first mission I don't think it'll be too hard..." Vex said, sitting at the counter, tapping away at his phone. He had a bunch of mobile games he played to help him destress.

"I-it's our first mission!" She exclaimed. "What if we fail? What if we jeopardize the whole organization! Are we really ready!?" She said, panicking.

Cayanne went over to her calmly and grabbed her face between her hands, looking down at her.

"Breathe in." The taller woman told her.

Ephemera's face twinged red but she did as she was told, taking a deep breath in.

"Now breathe out." 

The girl obeyed, breathing out slowly and calming down a bit.

"It's going to be ok, yeah? This is what we've been training for. Besides, even if we fuck up a bit we're newbies, they'll probably be pretty lenient." Cayanne smiled at her.

Ephemera took a few more breaths in and out and nodded. "Yeah... Yeah..." She said, pouring herself some tea and sitting down.

Cahlen smirked. "We've been doing kickass in our daily chores, so this will be a breeze! Let's show them just how awesome we all are!" He said, pumping his fist in the air.

Vex chuckled. "Don't get too cocky though, overconfidence can lead to rookie mistakes. We want to succeed, we shouldn't try to overachieve. It might look bad if it goes wrong." He explained.

Alece was finding a hard time placing his own feelings on the situation. While he had done dangerous things thousands of times over in his last life, this time he was doing it for good. If there was a casualty or slip up and you were on the side of criminals, it was usually written off pretty easily. If something like that happened when you were playing the good guy, he could only imagine how bad the punishment could be.

He was snapped out of his thoughts, however, by Vex.

"Hey, Alece." The small man started. "Care to cook us up something? I think we deserve to celebrate for getting our first mission." He smiled, hoping to lighten the mood. Everyone looked at Alece, a bit hungry at thinking of his cooking.

Alece blushed a bit at being put on the spot but got up and went to the kitchen. "Yeah... I can do that." He said.

The meal was good and lifted everyone's spirits, and by the time they went to bed they were all in a good mood. Not that they weren't still anxious deep down for what tomorrow would bring, but they were a bit more confident in their ability to face it.


	9. The Mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay i've been having some medical issues... thanks for your views and kudos! it means so much to me!

The next morning they get dressed and ready to go. They met up in front of the elevator and waited for Tybol, who showed up with his hair slicked back and wearing a nice suit. He looked at the rest of them, dressed casually, and cocked an eyebrow.

"Do you guys even know how to dress up?" He asked.

Cahlen scoffed a bit, wearing the same outfit he always wore. "We're just gonna be in front of that screen, right? Not like there's anyone we need to impress. Especially since we already got the job."

Cayanne nodded in agreement, wearing a short skirt and a fur jacket. "Yeah like, we're clean!"

Ephemera was the only one dressed semi formally, but chances are that was less about her trying to impress them and more about it being her only style of dress. Aside from her very casual clothes and pajamas, she seemed to only wear clothes that were very prim and proper.

Tybol shrugged a bit. "I guess you have a point. Just next time you get paid do try to get a nicer wardrobe. It'll help with missions." He said, leading them into the elevator and to the other building.

The other building was a short walk from this one, no need for even the train. When they got there they were sent to the same room as before, and everyone sat down in the chairs. It was weird that it had already been half a month since they were in this room for the first time. It really made them think about how far they had come in that short amount of time. In less than two weeks they went from yelling at each other constantly and barely working together to only yelling at each other some of the times and being able to function as a semi-together unit.

As soon as the clock hit the time that they were told the meeting would start, the room went black and the screen in front of them started to play a recording.

Ephemera pulled out her phone to take notes for everyone, as the voice started to talk.

"Congratulations on getting past your training! With you being here, you are officially on the track to doing what you were intended to do here. So I would like to offer my sincere thanks for making it this far."

Everyone looked between themselves, and Alece thought to himself that it would be more sincere if it wasn't a semi-robotic voice saying these things.

"Well, now that you have officially surpassed your training and initial metric goals, we are ready to offer you your first official assignment." The voice continued.

The screen showed the image of a building that had been newly erected in the city, big and flashy, very obviously the new casino that had been advertised around town. 

"This is Pathway Casino and Games. It is slated to open for a private event to kickoff the opening day in exactly one week. The casino is slated to bring in a lot of revenue for the city, and it is important that it goes well."

Cahlen seemed to look incredibly interested at this point.

"However, a group of criminals plan to steal money that is being held underneath the hotel in protected servers. There is no word when they plan to carry out this heist, but that's where you come in."

Alece frowned, stealing perles in that manner was something he excelled in when he worked for CONTROL.

"You will be given disguises and fake identities as well as invitations to this party. We have tailor made your identities to fit you personally, and you will attend this party for reconnaissance. You are to not engage anyone suspicious, but you will be required to plant discreet surveillance tools around points of interest in the casino, as well as make a record of anyone or anywhere suspicious. This will aid us in stopping the heist when it happens with a more senior team. This first step will be crucial to ensuring the heist does not go through."

"So we just plant bugs and shit?" Cayanne asked, cocking an eyebrow Tybol's way. It seemed she was hoping for more action for a first mission.

Tybol nodded. "You can ask me questions after the presentation, it's almost over."

In the front of the room, a table descended from the ceiling, with five briefcases with their names on them, much like when they first joined.

The voice resumed. "In these boxes are the tools and gadgets you will need for this mission, as well as an in depth description to your identity, and your ticket. Also included is the money you will need to prepare your disguises. Usually we will have you meet with a designer, but your coach has informed us that you have a competent clothes designer in your team already, so we will leave it to them to create the apparel."

Vex blinked and looked at Tybol, who smiled at him. The smaller boy smiled a bit, kinda excited to be able to show off his abilities.

"If you have any further questions or requirements, your coach can easily assist you in acquiring anything additional you may need. Have a good day and we look forward to your continual success here at stop." 

The room went dark again before the lights kicked on. They all grabbed their suitcases and walked out with Tybol.

"So." Cayanne started, once they were outside of the building. "First mission... I think we should fucking celebrate!" She grinned. "Like, restaurant style celebrate!" She said.

Cahlen shrugged a bit. "I actually had somewhere I wanted to go..." Cayanne immediately grabbed his suitcase and shook her head. "You're not going anywhere punk." She said. She knew where he was going to go and wasn't going to let him. He pouted. The others weren't aware of Cahlen's problem, but they had their suspicions that he was at least extremely bad with money. However, Cayanne knew, and planned to do everything in her power to help him keep it under control. As a former addict herself, she knew what it was like and that having someone around that could help you control it was an invaluable asset. Cahlen didn't seem too keen on the help, he was still in the mentality that he didn't have a problem, but Cayanne knew that eventually he'd appreciate it. She was worried, though, that this mission was going to be at a casino. It might be just the catalyst that could cause him to relapse.

Tybol smiled a bit. "Well, I certainly am not opposed to a celebration. I'll pay for it, I have just the place in mind." He said with a smile.

The others cheered and they headed home to drop off the suitcases, and once they did that they all headed towards the restaurant.


	10. The Dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks so much to everyone who's reading! I can't believe I have 62 hits so far!! With the first novel I wrote, not a single person read it, so thank you so much to everyone who's read so far! It really makes me happy you're giving my story a chance! And thanks to everyone who's left kudos! It means the absolute world to me, you have no idea!

When they arrived at the restaurant, Tybol told them the name under the reservation. The restaurant was a fancy place on the top of a high rise building, and everyone really felt how classy it was. It was amazing and a perfect place to celebrate, as they got their own private room with a balcony to eat.

When they sat down they passed the serving console between them, putting in their drink orders.

"This whisky is the best there is... I'm gonna get wasted on it!" Cahlen grinned, ordering a bottle of it.

Cayanne shook her head. "Excuse me, that brand is swill. THIS is the whisky you'll want." She said, ordering a bottle of a competing brand of the drink.

"Excuse me, I grew up drinking whisky instead of cough syrup. I should know by now what fucking tastes good." Cahlen retorted, ready to defend his honor, and his favorite drink.

"Ok, first of all, that's fucking weird. Second of all you southerners drink fucking moonshine and shit... That's basically drain cleaner with some fruit in it!"

"Hey, don't disrespect the shine! You just have no culture." Cahlen said, sitting back as everyone else ordered, continuing his argument with Cayanne.

Ephemera was looking at the menu, focused heavily, as if she was making a super important, life changing decision.

Tybol looked at her with a small smile. "Never drank before, huh?" He asked her. She turned beet red.

"Y-Yeah... I never really... Had an interest in drinking on my own... But I want to try something!" She said, determined look on her face.

Tybol chuckled a bit, and Vex reached over and scrolled down to the white wines.

"Here, try one of these. A Moscato D'asti is a good drink to start with, it's a sparkling wine that's really sweet, and light. You probably won't get wasted on it, but it'll give a light buzz." He smiled at her.

She nodded. "Thanks Vex, I'll try it!" She said, ordering it.

Vex took it next, ordering a glass of a red wine, and handed it to Alece, who ordered a mead. He liked honey a lot, and he liked this particular brand. He wasn't that heavy of a drinker, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't occasionally indulge on a particularly hard to handle night. He had been alone since he left CONTROL, so when flashbacks got particularly hard to handle, alcohol was basically his only option. Some nights he still had a perfect image of Jaudi's dying face in his head. It haunted him.

The drinks came soon enough, and they kept going on in casual conversation. Cayanne and Cahlen were still going on about their similar but different tastes in alcohol. Tybol had turned on the television in the room to a sports channel as he drank his beer, and Alece was watching with him. It seemed that they had similar feelings about certain teams, and it made Alece happy to be able to see this side of their teacher. Ephemera was already fairly tipsy after a couple glasses of wine, and was leaning against Alece to stop the world from spinning. Alece wasn't a touchy person, but he didn't mind.

After they kept drinking and got their food, Vex stood up and went out on the balcony. He looked fairly uncomfortable after a while, which was unlike him. He was usually calm and collected, but he seemed a bit panicky even.

Ephemera had fallen asleep against the table, so Alece snuck out to go see what was up with Vex. They weren't best friends, but they had bonded a bit. They were both more quiet and responsible, and they had had fun discussing the jobs and other things together, so Alece was genuinely concerned that he was upset about something.

When he walked out, he saw Vex mess up his usually perfect hair and shout out into the night.

"Hey, are you... Doing ok?" Alece asked. He wasn't the best with words, but he still wanted to see if he could comfort him in some way.

Vex looked back at him, face flushed from the alcohol and the embarrassment at being seen like that.

"Oh... Alece. Hey, sorry about that." He said, forcing an embarrassed smile.

Alece cocked an eyebrow at him, not quite believing the smile he was seeing.

Vex sighed, looking back out over the city, it spanning out far, hitting the water of the lake out on the horizon. "I... Sorry about that. I'm usually more composed than that, but the chatter and the alcohol... I just needed a break." He sighed.

"I understand..." Alece said, going over to stand next to him, arms resting on the edge of the balcony. "It is pretty rowdy in there."

"Mind if I vent for a little bit?" Vex asked, staring up at the stars. With how well the Earth has come environmentally since the days of pollution, and the laws reducing light at night, the stars were easy to see.

Alece nodded. "Go ahead, I don't know if I'll have any good advice... But I can listen." He explained.

Vex sighed before he started to talk.

"Up until a few years ago, I was an extreme recluse." He started to explain. That shocked Alece, he seemed so good with people. 

"I was homeschooled, at my request, and was so anxious about leaving the house that I would wear invisible compatible clothes and go out without being seen, just to lessen the ability for anyone to talk to me. I thought I had the best power in the world... But in reality it made me even more nervous when I did have to be seen. It took me years to realize I was using it as a crutch, and I couldn't live that way for my entire life." He said, sighing a bit.

"A few years back, when my parents pressured me to go to college, I decided I had enough. I started dressing how I wanted, in the styles I had always admired, and I practiced over and over again how to be confident. I asked my online friends for advice, and I managed to succeed in a way. When I went to college, I made friends, I got along with lots of people. I joined clubs, I worked hard... I got a degree and actually lived for the first time." He smiled a bit.

"I managed to put my fears and my past and my hardships behind me, and actually move on with my life. But sometimes... I still feel anxious. Sometimes, like now, I feel like I'm not good enough, and I get the urge to go invisible again, sneak out, and just live in my house again. I know my parents wouldn't turn me away."

Alece frowned. He didn't want Vex to leave, but he understood where he was coming from. He was conflicted between offering him advice that would comfort him and what he wanted to come from it.

"Don't give me that look." Vex said, reading Alece's mind. "I'm not actually going to leave. I'm honored that I was asked to do this job. I want to do it well, and I'm looking forward to helping people through it. It's just... When you have that kind of past it never really leaves. You may think you're over your past, you're over what happened, but sometimes you're reminded of it again. Recovery never really ends, you know? You always relapse, you always panic... And while it gets less frequent as life goes on, it never truly goes away." He frowned a bit to himself.

Alece decided to pipe up at that point. "So what do you do? If you can never truly escape your past... How do you cope? How do you keep from breaking inside?" He asked. He related a lot to his story, and he was desperate to find out if it ever truly got better. If he would ever be over Jaudi's death.

Vex looked over at him, brown eyes meeting green. "You cope by finding other things to distract yourself with. Even something little... Like reading a book, or playing a game, or, in my case, sewing and tinkering. When it gets bad, you sink yourself in a hobby and process the thoughts. Maybe talk to a friend, like me or anyone else on the team. It may not seem like it, but everyone respects you. You surprise us a lot, Alece. You seem quiet but you're surprisingly competent. I know I can't speak for everyone, but no one hates you. I'm sure if there was something you needed to talk about, I know I'd listen." He smiled at him. "Just like you listened to me."

Alece couldn't help but blush a bit at that, looking away. He was a bit touched. They liked him?

"...You too." He added on. "If you ever need to talk... I'll listen. And I know you'll feel better soon. W-well I don't know for SURE... But..." He rambled a bit, trying to collect his thoughts. "It'll be ok."

Vex smiled at him and pat him on the back gently. "Thanks. I'm going to head back in, you coming? I think I had enough yelling at the moon for one night." He chuckled.

Alece shook his head. He wanted a bit of privacy to think.

Vex nodded and headed back inside, closing the sliding door behind him.

Was this... Really ok? Was he safe? Liked? Alece was having a hard time believing it. But he knew that Vex wasn't lying. He could tell that he wouldn't lie to him. Maybe he could even tell them... Tell them all his past. Tell them what he was dealing with... Maybe it would be ok. He'd get to cry on someone's shoulder, and really start to grieve.

However, doing it right before an important mission would maybe make everything worse. If he was wrong and they all rejected him and he was kicked out, the mission might not go well. He wanted to prove himself, before he asked them for approval. It felt only right that he make sure they know that he's trustworthy before he drops a bomb like that. Or would it be worse? Would they feel more betrayed if he waited...

He knew for one thing, he wasn't quite ready to risk it. He didn't want to seem like a selfish person, but he wanted to at least get to enjoy the first mission with everyone. It may not end well after he tells them, but he can at least cherish that memory forever, even if he has to go back to job hunting and living in crappy apartments.

So it's decided, he thought, he would confess his past and everything to them after the mission. Whether they succeed or fail it, he would tell them after, and let them make their own decisions after that. If he loses it all, he'll just have to deal with that. But if they accept him, he'll be able to feel like he's not hiding anymore. Like he can be loved for who he is, baggage included.

With that he stretched a bit, silently wishing on the moon that it'd go well. After that he turned and walked back in, heading back to finish his dinner.


	11. The Preparations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who got another chapter done! And hey, another kudo, and we broke 70 hits! I'm so thankful again, truly!! Enjoy :) My goal for this weekend is to get caught up at 28k words, so wish me luck!

The week before the mission went by fairly simply, just as they predicted. They worked on their basic daily tasks during the morning, trained a bit in the afternoon, then they would go home and work on their identities and outfits. Vex had measured each one of them, and talked with them a little about what they liked and didn't like in clothes. He was barely seen each night, seeming to work tirelessly on the outfits. On occasion if someone went out for a midnight snack, they'd see him hunched over a sewing machine in the living room, with the television going on behind him.

After the week was up, the day of the mission was upon them. Everyone except for Vex went to bed extremely early, wanting to be fully prepared for the day ahead of them. When they woke up, they all met in the living room, and waited for Tybol to arrive to debrief them.

Tybol arrived after a few minutes, walking in with his cane. He was wearing a dark black ensemble, mainly so he could be in the emergency van nearby and provide backup as needed. It reminded Alece of what he would wear when he robbed places, but the outfit looked way better on someone kind like their teacher.

"Alright. Today's the day, how's everyone feeling?" Tybol asked, pulling up a chair to sit with them. The mission wasn't for another few hours, so they had time to prepare and get on the same page as one another.

Ephemera spoke first. "I'm feeling great! I'm ready to do this mission and get our first success!" She said peppily, almost like her whole life had led to this moment.

Cayanne chuckled a bit. "I think you have enough enthusiasm for all of us, sugar." 

Ephemera blushed, and Cayanne spoke again. "I'm pumped though. I think I can say for us all that we're ready as fuck to do this!"

Tybol saw the rest of them agree and smiled softly. He was proud that they seemed to be excited.

"Well then," he started, "Let's go over your identities. You were given the basics in your briefcases last week, but needed to flesh it out over the week. Who wants to go first?"

Cayanne shot up her hand. "Mines simple." She started, not even waiting to be called on. "I refuse to fucking go by anything else, but I have a friend who just got hired there and he actually texted me last week about a job opening. I had a different one in my box, but I brought it up to Tybol and will be going as myself, but I accepted the job at the casino for the night. It's only a job for that night, so it'll be ok if I go around behind the scenes since I can just claim to be lost." She grinned. She was proud of figuring out that all herself, and happy that she didn't have to change her name.

Tybol smiled a bit. "I'm glad your friend offered the position, I was a bit hesitant to let you since it would seem odd if you just organically asked for a job, but with your friend offering the job of their own free will it does give you a really good alibi if anyone asks questions. Who wants to go next?"

Ephemera shot up her hand, she wanted to go first but she decided that second would be a good alternative. When Tybol gestured for her to go, she launched into her excited explanation. 

"My identity is a woman named Erelia Rae, the daughter of a mayor from another smaller town. My father is interested in possibly paying for a casino to be built in his town, and sent me here on vacation to scope out the opening and see if he's willing to invest! I plan to speak with patrons and ask their opinion of the casino, while staying away from anyone of actual importance." She smiled. She was especially proud of her identity and plan.

Tybol nodded. "Good, I like that you're going to try to stay away from anyone of importance. Keep it low to the ground, maybe pretend to get drunk, and get the job done."

Vex decided to go next. "Me and Cahlen are going as a married couple, Teria and Venlo Bowles. We're a pair from the deep south who are rising stars in the gambling world and absolutely mad for each other, most of the time. Pretending to get drunk, staging couples arguments, and pretending to be an obnoxious couple in need for privacy will give us a good cover to go to usually inaccessible areas. No one's gonna want to stay around if they think we're going to be doing.... things." He smirked. 

Cahlen rolled his eyes. "When he's not nagging me I can go to the machines and 'pretend' to gamble..." Cayanne kicked his leg and Vex shot him a look. "Ok fine I'll stay away from the machines! You know you didn't have to talk for me, I could have explained my own damn identity..."

Vex cocked an eyebrow. "Could you have? Would you have gotten it straight? Cause when we were discussing it you kept forgetting parts. I swear we're going to get there and you're going to not even know your assumed name..."

Cahlen glared at him, pouting a bit with a twinge of red on his cheeks. He didn't want to say anything, because he had actually already forgotten what name he was going by.

Tybol chuckled a bit. "Sounds like you have the married couple act down, good luck on preparing it."

Vex and Cahlen blushed a bit. They didn't actually prepare a married couple act... Most of their time figuring out the identity was spent arguing about how they would act.

They all turned to Alece, it was his turn, as he was the last to say anything.

"W-well... I'm not quite good at playing all classy, so I'm going as Tyrell Nearheart, a college student doing my thesis on gambling culture and addiction. It gives me a reason to not be as... Good at talking, and also an excuse to talk to as many people and employees as I want, and take lots of notes as I ask questions. I plan to go around and talk to different people and employees, taking notes on who seems suspicious or not."

Tybol smiled a bit. "I'm glad you came up with that, it seems you were able to identify your own weakness with communication and turn it into a strength. That's the main thing you need to be aware of with secret identities, it may be fun to be someone that is completely different than yourself, but if you build a character around your strengths and weaknesses you'll find the job goes more natural."

Alece smiled a bit, liking the praise. He did work very hard on his character.

Vex then claps his hand and pulls out a large box. "Ok, now that that's done, I'm going to go over the outfits!" He smiled, looking excited. His eyes had slight bags under them, and it was unclear if he had even slept last night.

He pulled out a basic uniform for Cayanne. "This may look like the uniform for the job, and I couldn't do much with it, but I did add some features. I replicated the original uniform for one with fire resistant fabric, which will be good with Cayanne's powers in a pinch. It also has a GPS thread in it, which will be constantly tracking where Cayanne goes and help with mapping the building. We already have a blueprint, but it will be nice to have a basic guide of how you travel between rooms, and all sorts of things." He beamed.

Cayanne grinned. "Wow, this is sick, dude! Thanks!" She said, taking the outfit from him, liking how it felt.

Vex then pulled out a basic black dress with some slight lace near the collar. "This will be what I'm wearing. There's breast inserts with padding, but inside of the padding will be a hidden camera and microphone, that won't be visible to the naked eye due to its location and the lace that will hide the opening. The camera will be automatically sent to everyone's phones, as well as the server in the van Tybol will be in." He said, putting it aside gently. He seemed to care a great deal about the clothes being kept nice.

"Next is my annoying husband, who will be wearing a suit that has some lace accents that compliment my dress. His suit jacket has a hidden pocket where his real phone will be. We were all given burner phones to use, but the real phone will be used as a bit of a data hub for everyone's devices, so my recordings and Cayanne's GPS data and such can be accessed by his real device. The burner phones delete data soon after it's recorded, but the data will be primarily sent to Cahlen's real phone during the mission for ease of access if we need it."

Cahlen grunted a bit. "Do I get to wear my hat?"

Vex blinked. "That garish thing? I'm not going to be on your arm with you wearing a hat that has more dirt in it than fabric..."

"Hey, my hat's perfectly clean!"

"Well, even if it is, it doesn't fit the outfit. So no. It's just one day, you can go without it."

Cahlen grumbled. "It's the fuckin principal of the thing..."

"ANYWAYS," Vex started, handing Cahlen his outfit as he spoke, "Next is Ephemera. This one took the longest, and I'm proud of it." He pulled out a light blue short ball gown, that had hundreds of sequins on it. Ephemera's eyes twinkled, she seemed to love it a lot. 

"This dress may look like it doesn't hide anything, but it is actually covered with dozens of detachable cameras. The sequins, when squeezed, can be removed and stuck to walls. When the side of the sequin is held down for half a second, it enables a cloak that makes the sequin near invisible to the naked eye. While Ephemera is looking around the casino, she can place these cameras in key locations to start a circuit of surveillance to keep an eye on what's going on even after the event."

Vex handed the dress to Ephemera, who squeed a bit at how pretty it was.

"Also it has pockets." He winked at her.

"Lastly," He started, "Alece. For you I have a basic dark brown suit, but since you have the highest scores in combat out of all of us, I mainly made your outfit combat focused. You have a hidden stunner and a couple hidden knives in the inner pockets of your jacket and pants, and on the corsage on your chest is a small buzzer. One buzz and I'm in trouble, two and it's Cahlen, three and its Cayanne, and four and its Ephemera. If you feel it buzzing then come to our location, which will be sent to your burner phone. In conjunction with that, I made these wristbands for everyone except for Alece. If you press the button on it it sends to Alece that you need backup." He smiled.

Tybol clapped a bit. "Well done Vex, you've truly outdone yourself. All of these outfits are perfect, you seamlessly integrated everyone's needs. Now, given what I know I'm going to go over the general plan and goals of the mission."

Everyone looked at him attentively.

"Cayanne. Your job is to take note and scope out any seemingly suspicious entrances, as well as talk with the other workers and lightly probe to see if they know anything about a heist. It's very likely that one of the workers is involved in the heist, and if you can determine who it is, that could help us very much."

Cayanne nodded. "Probe and scope, got it."

"Ephemera, with the cameras on your dress, your job is to stealthily put as many of them as possible in key locations. Act drunk, act nosy, but keep to your cover as an interested investor. Maybe hold your identity close to your chest so if someone catches you, you have something to confess to."

She nodded, committing the plan to memory.

"Cahlen and Vex, you guys are to go around and get as much footage of conversations as you can. Be an obnoxious couple, bump into people, record what others are saying, and maybe sneak into some other locations to get some footage there. We want you guys to note places and people of interest, and eavesdrop on others conversations."

"Gotcha, I'll remember that." Vex said. Cahlen grumbled a bit, still pissed at Vex.

"Lastly Alece. You are to get some interviews done, but don't probe too deep. Keep yourself floating around the casino floor in case you're needed as backup. Record people of interest if you find any." Tybol finished off.

Alece nodded. It was simple enough, he shouldn't have a problem with any of that.

After they were done talking, everyone went to their individual rooms to get dressed. Eventually everyone came out, looking spiffy and dressed to the nines. Even Cahlen, who usually dressed in his ratty single outfit, was looking freshened up and nice.

After making sure they had everything, they headed out towards the casino.


	12. The Casino

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for sticking with the story! We're almost half way done, I can't wait to continue!

They all take separate transportation, except of course the two pretending to be married. When the ones pretending to be guests arrive, they walk up as cameras reporting the event take their pictures. It's a bit nerve wracking, but they keep character. 

When Ephemera gets in, she immediately locates Cayanne, going up to her with a soft smile. 

"Hey, how's everything on your end?" She asked, taking one of the appetizers from her tray and nibbling on it.

Cayanne chuckled a bit. "Good, nothing too fancy. We got debriefed on the job, basically just walking around with food. Since we weren't given maps it should be easy to go places and claim to be lost. I'm gonna start wandering soon." She told her.

Ephemera nodded and smiled. "I'm going to go get a head start on putting the cameras around, let me know when you find an entrance to somewhere else that I should put under surveillance." She said. 

Cayanne nodded. "Actually, a lot of suits were headed towards the basement area. This main casino floor is technically the second level of the building, there are side entrances for employees only on the lower level, but they're locked tight. It's pretty sus that they've been doing all that behind the scenes... Cause those people don't look like employees. It makes me wonder if the heist is an inside job, some insurance bailout thing." She explained. "Nothing concrete, but if you could maybe keep an eye on that area or perhaps get a camera near the entrance... I'm sure it'll help." 

Ephemera nodded. "Gotcha... I'll pretend to down a few drinks as an excuse to go out for some fresh air, and hit up that location. Maybe you can sneak in on accident?"

Cayanne shook her head. "I already tried, but they require a keycode that us temps aren't given. Guess they don't want just anyone getting in there." She explained.

Ephemera nodded, frowning a bit. "Well, they did tell us not to really engage anyone, so I'll just put some cameras around the area and we can report it as a suspicious place. I doubt they want us really getting our covers blown when we're just here to prepare the organization for a proper mission."

"Right, right." Cayanne replied. "Anywho, I'm gonna make rounds. Lemme know if anything else happens." She smiled, walking away.

"Oh, by the way. You look really great tonight." She winked before walking off.

Ephemera blushed a bit at the compliment, smiling a little as she went off to find Alece. She wanted to check in with everyone once they arrived, just to touch base to see if anyone got any information upon entry. She was really wanting this mission to go well.

She found Alece standing by a table of drinks, taking a sip from a long flute of champagne.

"Hey Alece, anything happen yet?" She asked him.

He, however, hadn't been having the best of times. He arrived fine enough, and had been surveying the casino floor for any suspicious characters or acts, but honestly the fact that he had a stunner at his hip was giving him flashbacks of being with Jaudi on their final mission. He didn't know why that night was still plaguing him, it had been months. However, even with knowing that they were gone, he felt like he could just turn around and see them. They had been an inseparable pair since they were born. They had the same father, but different mothers, who were best friends and gave birth around the same time, so they always joked they were like twins. Their father was the head of CONTROL, and he had many children with the women in the syndicate. They typically didn't grow up super close to each other, but Jaudi and Alece were an anomaly. It hurt that he would never get to see them again, except in the horrific flashbacks of that fateful day.

Pulling his attention back, he shrugged. "Well, uh... Nothing that unusual. I entered after a lot of the paparazzi had gone home, so I have just been watching from in here the whole time." He explained.

Ephemera nodded. "Well, I spoke to Cayanne earlier, and there was some suspicious activity around the ground floor entrance. We're gonna watch the area, so if something happens we'll call you for backup. However, don't approach the area. We're going to put cameras around the entrance but we aren't to engage. So just do some interviews and wait for us to talk again!" She smiled as she walked away, no doubt planting the cameras everywhere she went.

Alece sighed and downed his drink, planning only on having the one, before heading back out to the floor to go question people. He forced a smile and brought out his burner phone, giving mock interviews to people. He'd ask basic questions like why they were invited, how they liked the casino, and if they had a history of gambling. He didn't quite have much luck finding out anything suspicious, most people were just big casino fanatics who had won some sort of gambling tournament and were invited to test out the machines. A lot of them were wearing really expensive clothes, and Alece grimaced a bit. These people seemed to flaunt every penny they owned, and didn't even realize that they were one of the very few people who had a successful gambling story. CONTROL used to bank on problem gamblers a lot, they would rig underground, unrestricted games to their favor and take every last penny from people. He hated being around all this, but he knew he had to for the job. He felt guilty that his old organization could perpetuate such a ruthless industry. Chances are these people were already wealthy before they gambled, so when they would throw thousands of perles on a single game, it was barely a dent in their income. Income inequality wasn't as bad as in the past, but there was definitely still a stark difference between the richest and the poorest. Bad decisions or bad situations could still land you in homelessness and poverty, but with the basic income and free education and healthcare the world now believed in, it wasn't that hard to get out of that situation. However, addicts were still addicts. People who refused to get help or didn't notice they had a problem could still find themselves struggling to make ends meet.

After Alece had done about a dozen of these little interviews, he decided to get some fresh air and headed towards the balcony.

\----

In the middle of the ballroom to the east of the casino, Cahlen and Vex were arm in arm, dancing idly in the center of the crowd. Neither of them were bad dancers, and they had decided upon arrival that this would be the safest place to observe from, since the dancing platform was a bit risen above the seated areas, and they could observe stealthily if any kind of suspicious behavior was being held in the area.

Cahlen was looking off the edge while drinking some whiskey, and ended up bumping into Vex a little.

"Hey, watch it... Don't carry around a full glass if you're going to have two left feet!" Vex pouted, a bit embarrassed at the proximity but more worried about the drink spilling.

Cahlen rolled his eyes. "It's fine, I'm not gonna spill it. Besides, I know you're enchanted by how handsome I am but remember we're suppos'ta be looking out for suspects."

Vex "ever so gently" stepped on his toe. "I AM paying attention. But we can't just crane our necks to watch every little person, there has to be some fucking nuance to it..."

Cahlen winced and took a sip of the drink to numb the pain. "Fucking... Now you watch where you're going!" He said, toe still hurting because Vex was, in fact, wearing heels. 

"Oh that was on purpose, 'love'" He smirked, spinning them around with the tempo so he could get a view where Cahlen was looking. He didn't trust that the other man would be able to tell a criminal from a baby.

Cahlen pouted a bit at him, and looked around at the area. It seems there was really nothing bad happening in this room, but he knew that could change at any minute.

All of a sudden, a particularly clumsy dancer bumped into Cahlen, causing him to completely spill his drink onto Vex's chest.

Vex winced a bit, getting a slight shock from the camera hidden in his bra, and glared at Cahlen.

"See what I mean about the drink? Honestly you could have gone an HOUR without having to drown yourself in alcohol!" He said, pushing Cahlen back a bit, half so he doesn't get shocked himself and half out of sheer anger.

"Hey this other guy bumped into me! I would have been fine if he had watched where he was going..." He said, turning around to scold the guy, but he was already halfway across the ballroom.

"Not the point! You shouldn't be bringing a glass of anything in the middle of a fucking dance floor!" He said, his outfit still wet and giving him uncomfortable zaps as the short circuited camera sparks him. He winced, then grabbed Cahlen's arm, dragging him off the floor.

"H-hey where are we going!?" Cahlen asked, not being able to understand or rationalize the actions of the smaller boy at all.

"Somewhere private so I can stop being fucking electrocuted!" Vex harshly whispered, looking around for a suitable location to fix or remove the damaged piece of equipment. He felt extremely hurt and frustrated right now, he had put so much effort into everyone's outfits, including his own, and having one of them covered in whiskey and the gadget broken was just making him feel awful. Deep down he knew he should have added waterproof casing to the camera, but he had run low on time and funds towards the end and was too proud to ask for more money to expedite the order of the special fabric he would need. 

Eventually after a bit of walking, he found a suitable location, a utility closet by the corner of the casino. While walking he bumped into a guy using the slot machines, who seemed to be having a very unlucky streak.

"Fuck!" The guy shouted, briefly turning around to see who hit him. He didn't seem to recognize or think much of them, so he just turned back and grumbled about people being assholes when he shoved more coins into the machine.

Vex said a quick apology as they moved on, and Cahlen nodded in solidarity, hoping the guy made bank that night.

After that encounter, they managed to sneak into the closet. There was very little room, but there was a small faded overhead light above them that barely illuminated their faces.

Vex immediately reached down his shirt and pulled out the faulty device, wincing when it shocked him and dropping it on the floor. "Fucking hell... That thing cost a fortune too..." He pouted, looking a bit dejected.

"Is the data so far still safe?" Cahlen asked, admittedly feeling a little guilty and hoping to diffuse the situation.

"It was streamed directly to our server, so the stuff we recorded so far is safe, but it wasn't anything fucking useful..." He grumbled. "Why do you have to be so crass?!" He snapped, so pissed off at everything around him that he couldn't help but lash out a bit. "Is that how you treat everyone you dance with?! A drink in one hand, the wasit in another? Do you even care that we're on a mission and you shouldn't be shitfaced during it!? Or is this just a game to you!?" He yelled at him.

Cahlen had had enough, and pinned Vex against the wall of the closet. "I've about had it with you belittling me! You have no care for my side of things, you just think you're some goodie two shoes that knows everything about everyone! Well newsflash asshole, I got my own problems to fucking worry about! I'm doing the damn mission as promised, who the fuck cares if I have a drink while doing it, or play a few games while doing it, or whatever! I'm not a freakin child!"

Vex glares at him heatedly, panting a bit from his own yelling and the quickness of their escape. Cahlen glares back, their eyes locked and a wordless fight going on between them. The energy around them is charged with so much tension, that they can barely stand it. The moment on the island had almost turned over their relationship into something, but all of their clashes after that kept them at two steps forward one step back. There had been an unspoken something going on there, something neither of them wanted to admit.

Until now.

Vex, deciding to just fuck it all to his nerves, then pulled Cahlen in by the collar and their lips connected into a searing kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up, the next chapter is basically pure smut. It can, however, be skipped. Nothing of plot importance will be in the chapter (that I have planned) and if there is any I will include the necessary information in the notes of the chapter after that. Those who are uncomfortable with sex scenes are free to skip it. I plan to do all erotic content in this way, but it'll be harder to do it if I do get this published in book form, but at least here on ao3 I can alert people!


	13. The Closet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS A PURELY SMUT CHAPTER
> 
> while the dynamic explored here is good for understanding the characters, it is NOT NECCESARY. There is nothing in this chapter that will make it so you can't move forward without reading it. The reason for these smut chapters is because I want to practice writing them and they are part of the story, but I am trying my best to frame them and separate them at least online in a way where people can easily avoid them. However, if you enjoy smut, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

The kiss is searing and hot and there's not enough of it for either of them. There's hands going everywhere, touching every nook and cranny and cursing the layers between them. Their anger and tension has finally been allowed to bear fruit, and they were milking it for everything it had.

Vex was quite an aggressive kisser, nibbling and sucking on lips and tongue, and Cahlen honestly was just trying to keep up. It was fairly obvious which of the two had more experience in this area, but Vex didn't mind playing educator. He took Cahlen's lower lip between his teeth and pulled slightly, eliciting a soft and almost desperate moan from the taller man.

Vex chuckled a bit as he pulled back, pointedly but delicately removing Cahlen's tie and upper buttons. "You moan like a virgin." He teased him, half to get a rise out of him and half to gauge how slow he would have to go here.

Cahlen blushed a bit and pushed him harder against the wall, pressing up against him. "Can you stop making fun of me while we're making out? Or am I going to get teased the entire time!?" He said, his flush face telling Vex all he needed to know.

Vex, in turn, leaned up and laid a kiss under his ear, making his shiver. 

"I just need to know how gentle to be..." He whispered, blowing softly in his ear that gave him a full body tremble.

That shut Cahlen right up, and he pulled Vex by the face into another passionate kiss. It was rough and inexperienced but neither of them would have it any other way. They fought like cats and dogs at time, but they had formed a bit of a bond over the three weeks of working together. However, neither of them wanted to stop and talk this through beforehand. That could come later.

During the kiss, Vex hooked a leg behind Cahlen's and started grinding softly against him, showing off his own budding erection as he tried to gauge how Cahlen was. Cahlen was actually mostly hard by this point. He had never felt this way, felt this much burning desire, that he was quick to harden.

Vex chuckled as he felt the other man's straining erection against his own, and he pushed back from the kiss to start sucking and biting dark marks into Cahlen's neck, while his hand trailed down to gently unbutton his pants.

"Tell me to stop if you don't like what I'm doing." He said pointedly between love bites.

Cahlen nodded and took in a hitched breath, his erection almost painful with how close Vex's hand was to it.

Vex pushed down his dress pants so they fell around his ankles, Cahlen's boxers showing a nice looking tent. From the looks of it, he had an above average size hidden behind the fabric, and when Vex stared at it Cahlen started to blush, feeling subconscious.

Vex noticed the embarrassment in his eyes and gave him a long kiss, reaching down to palm him through his boxers.

The feeling of being touched like that was almost enough to send Cahlen over the edge, but he kept trying to think unsexy thoughts to make sure he didn't finish early. If he did he would probably die of embarrassment.

Vex could feel him twitch, and with that, he sunk to his knees, taking out a small tie from his inner bra pocket to tie back his bangs. It gave him this weird ponytail thing on the top of his head, which made Cahlen snort.

Vex pouted a bit and squeezed his cock a bit as a reprimand. "If you laugh at my hair I'll take it down, and then I won't be able to suck you off. So are you going to be quiet?" He asked, a stern look on his slightly pink face.

Cahlen reached up and made the zipping motion on his mouth. He didn't know what he did to earn a blowjob, but he was NOT going to fuck this up. He'd just make fun of his hairstyle later, after he cums.

Vex smirked, glad he got him to shut up. He then teasingly nuzzled against the bulge, noticing that the more he touched it the more Cahlen came undone. It was very arousing for Vex to have this much of an effect on someone. His previous partners were usually more dominant, and while he liked being grabbed and fucked sometimes, there was something... Deeper, about seeing your partner come undone because of you. It made Vex hard, and made his heart kinda swell a bit. It made him want to try more things, maybe have more than just a fling with him.

But those feelings could come later.

After noticing that Cahlen had a bit of a wet spot forming on the boxers he sewed for him, he pulled them down and let him out fully before him.

There was definitely a difference in size between how he was in the boxers and out of them. He was uncut, and had a surprisingly neat tuft of hair under his navel trailing downwards. He didn't seem the type to manscape, but appearances aren't everything. He had a nicely sized member that curved slightly upward, and was completely rigid and leaking a few beads of pre.

Not wanting the drops to hit the clothes that he painstakingly slaved over the last week, Vex immediately licked the tip, catching the drops in his mouth. Cahlen bit the back of his hand to stifle a moan, eyes squeezed nearly shut as he watched Vex do this.

Feeling the pressure on, Vex placed a hand on his thigh, his other hand taking the shaft and directing it to his mouth. He took the head past his slightly painted lips, using his tongue to swirl around it deftly. This caused Cahlen to hold back from jerking his hips forward, which Vex appreciated. Not that he didn't enjoy it a bit rougher, but this time, he wanted to be in control and tease him.

He pulled off after licking it for a bit and trailed a finger up from his sac to the head, gripping it slightly and stroking a bit as he laid kisses all along the shaft. His lipstick was turning his cock a soft shade of red, making it look even more like it was blushing for him.

Cahlen looked down and watched him as he performed these actions, still trying to keep his impending orgasm at bay. He barely knew what they were doing, but knew there was a high chance for regret later. Of course he didn't dare bring that up now, but if he ran the risk of only getting to do this with him this one time, he wanted to last as long as possible. He hated to admit it, but he was so fucking attracted to Vex, to their banter, to everything involving their relationship and just who Vex is, that he would gladly do this a million times over. Vex may be annoying and a downright asshole at times, but he was hardworking and gave such an earnest effort into everything that it almost made Cahlen want to try harder just to be able to measure up to him. If anything, his attraction was born from deep admiration, as well as the fact that Vex was simply Cahlen's type to a T. But did Vex feel the same way, or was he just caught up in the moment from their argument?

Cahlen didn't have time to continue this line of thinking as Vex took him deep into his mouth, almost partly down his throat, in one fell swoop. This broke the cowboy out of his concentration entirely, causing him to moan out loud.

Vex chuckled a bit, the vibration hitting nicely against his cock as he held onto his leg and started sucking him off in earnest. He bobbed his head deliciously, tucking some stray hairs behind his ears and so glad he put his hair up. He hated having hair in his mouth, and figured Cahlen would be too busy moaning to hold his hair back for him.

Cahlen couldn't hold back, and gently rocked his hips forward, meeting Vex's bobbing with earnest, causing Vex to be the one to moan. The cowboy took a hint and gently grabbed a fistful of Vex's deep black hair, and started moving him and thrusting in gently, much to the smaller mans approval.

After developing a rhythm for this and keeping at it for a while, Cahlen's thrusts became more incessant, and it was obvious that he was getting close. Vex took over then, speeding up his bobbing, wanting to swallow it all as to not make a mess.

With the additional bobbing Cahlen couldn't hold back anymore, and groaned loudly as he spilled deep in Vex's mouth. When he was finally done, he stood back, panting hard, as Vex cleaned him off with his tongue. He was so sensitive that the cleanup hurt a little bit, but he figured it'd be best to endure it so he didn't mess up the clothes.

Vex stood up, blushing a bit. "Put your clothes back on, we shouldn't be here much longer or people will get suspicious." He said calmly, undoing his hair and running his fingers through it, trying to make it look like he didn't just fool around in a casino closet.

Cahlen took a second to pull himself together before nodding, getting his garments back up and in place. Neither of them looked perfect, Vex's makeup was a bit smeared, and Cahlen certainly had some red lipstick on his face and collar, but when they walked out, they sincerely hoped no one could tell what they just did.


	14. Jaudi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading, again! and to anyone who skipped last chapter, don't worry, there wasn't anything that happened in that chapter that you have to read it or you miss it. In the official release and edit of this novel, there might be, but I will always make the online versions where you can skip the smut.

Alece stood on the balcony, deep in thought. Pros and cons of telling everyone his past went through his head, but knowing he had a job to do, he watched below. The area below the balcony was close enough to the area that Ephemera said to watch out for, so he paid close attention to it as he let his thoughts wander through his head.

However, he was quickly interrupted when he saw a familiar blonde head walk through the side alleyway next to the building.

Alece's eyes went wide, not believing what he was seeing. He saw the blonde mass of hair that he knew like the back of his hand and prayed it was just a coincidence.

However, when he saw the figure turn slightly, there was no mistake.

That was Jaudi.

Before doing anything rash, Alece immediately took a picture with his phone. Then he sprung into action. Frantically, he ran off the balcony and through the casino, trying to get back to the entrance so he could go to the lower level door Jaudi entered through.

While he ran, he accidentally bumped into a server, who deftly caught the drinks that almost fell.

"Hey, watch it!" Cayanne spun around, before seeing Alece frantically looking around. Her gaze softened a bit when she saw who it was, but frowned more when she noticed the state he was in.

"What's wrong? Are you ok?" She asked.

Alece tried to move past her. "Uh... Need bathroom! Be back..." He said as he darted away.

Luckily, Ephemera saw that all go down and quickly grabbed his arm. Neither her or Cayanne believed his excuse.

"What are you doing... Please don't do anything rash. Just stop and talk to us..." She pleaded. She wanted so desperately for this mission to go well, that she was a bit panicked thinking that the mission could be jeopardized by Alece, who she always thought would be a bit of a wild card.

Alece shook his head, looking a bit panicked. "Please I just... I have to do this. Please don't stop me... There's no time to explain!" He said, as he booked it across the casino floor to the entrance.

Ephemera started to panic a bit. With Alece going rogue, what would happen? Not knowing what to do, she pulled out her phone, planning to tell Tybol about what happened.

However, Cayanne made her way over and took the phone from her.

"W-what was that for, Tybol should know about this!" Ephemera pouted. Cayanne shook her head.

"When you grabbed him you put a sequin on him right?" She asked. Ephemera nodded, a bit sad she wasn't as sneaky as she thought. "Then we'll watch him. If we tell on him, he might never open up to us. Of course, if he's in extreme danger, we'll call Tybol to find out what to do, but I think we should just gather everyone and try to follow him. Maybe he has an amazing lead and could wind up with awesome intel. Or, he could be in trouble and need backup. We don't really know much about him, but we know that he's a good fighter. If we want him to fully trust us in the future we need to at least respect when he's found something out."

Ephemera sighed. She was raised to always tell someone when something happened, so it was a bit out of her comfort zone to do this. "Ok... Can you get the others? I'm going to follow him." She said, starting to walk away. Cayanne nodded.

Walking towards where Alece went, Ephemera pulled up her phone and started watching from the camera she put on him. She saw that he was headed towards the side door, but seemed to be a bit turned around. She quickly called him.

Alece picked up, expecting to be reprimanded, but wanted to at least explain further. However, he wasn't met with that kind of response.

"It's about fifty feet forward, a door to your right. If you're looking for anyone suspicious, that's where we figure they'll go." Ephemera said through the phone, heading towards that area.

Alece mumbled a thanks before hanging up, confused that he was being helped even after how shady he had been, but grateful for it nonetheless.

When he sees the door, he notices how heavily locked it is and hides behind a disintegrating dumpster machine as he watches. If he can just scope it out and see what he's dealing with, he would be in a better place to enter, and hopefully find the answers he was looking for.

When he was sitting there he took a deep breath. Was that really Jaudi, or was just the small amount of alcohol getting to his head? This wouldn't be the first time he'd seen them, but before it was more of flashes in his vision as he was walking around the busy city. He would chase the apparitions for hours before just realizing that it was just his mind playing nasty tricks on him.

Maybe he was just overreacting, and that person wasn't Jaudi. A lot of people were wearing the basically extinct blonde style, and his sibling did have fairly common features. Now that he was calmer, he was going to check the photo again.

Dreading either reveal, he checked the photo.

It was unmistakably them.

He felt a sinking in his chest. Jaudi... Was alive... How on earth could that be possible? He held Jaudi as they perished, he heard their final words... The wound was right in the lungs! They couldn't have survived that. However, he knew his sibling.

He knew he had to go in to find them, and figure out what was happening. He couldn't just leave this be.

After a few more minutes, he sees a man in a suit go in. He types in a pin and walks through the door. Alece had assumed that that was the case, but he didn't want to try to go in if there was some trick to it that would get him found out. He wants answers, he doesn't want to completely blow everyone's cover.

He waits a bit to make sure no ones coming out, and he goes over to the keypad. He closes his eyes and scans the future while his future self tries all the codes, and ends up finding out which one works. He saw the general direction the man before was going with typing the numbers, so it didn't take him too long.

He typed in the numbers and the door unlatched, letting him sneak in. Before him is a long hallway with lots of cameras. He uses his powers to predict the camera's path, and starts stealthily moving down the hallway, keeping an eye on a few seconds in the future periodically to make sure he doesn't get caught and is able to avoid any surprises.

\----

Cayanne doesn't take long to find Vex and Cahlen. They were standing by the refreshment table, not speaking as they were eating and watching the crowd. Ever since what happened in the closet, they hadn't been able to look each other in the eye. Neither of them really knew how to go forward. There was the fear that if they acknowledged it they would find out the other regretted it, or maybe if they locked eyes they would wind up doing it again. Either way, the mission was not the time or place to discuss those things. They both at least knew that. Well, that, and they were afraid of the other's answers.

"Oh there you guys are," Cayanne started, "We have a situation." She looked at them. She wasn't a stranger to what they had gotten up to, and she would have teased them for it, but right now there was more pressing manners at hand.

Vex cocked an eyebrow. "What's going on?"

Cayanne shook her head. "I'll tell you when we meet up with Ephemera, lets go." She said, leading them to where she saw Ephemera get off to.

Ephemera had made it to the same dumpster Alece was hiding behind, watching her phone to see Alece make it down the hallway. She was honestly impressed, she hadn't put much stock in Alece's powers being useful, but now watching him in action easily dodge these cameras, she was a bit less worried that he'd get found out. It also raised the question on how he learned to use his powers in this way. They had gone over uses for their powers in training, but with the way Alece was moving, he almost seemed... Used to this. It was certainly not what she was expecting from him.

Soon Cayanne and the others met up with her, walking up to the dumpster and crouching to the hiding spot behind it where Ephemera was squatting, balancing on her heels in hopes the dress doesn't get dirty. It may be just for the mission, but she was growing attached to it. No one had made her anything before, and she planned to cherish it after the mission was over, if she was allowed to keep it.

Vex crouched directly behind her and watched the camera. "Did Alece... Go in?" He asked, a bit shocked that he would make such a bold move. No one on the team really knew much about Alece, as they were all slowly realizing. They were all worried, but they wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. They were schooled very hard over the last few weeks about teamwork and how important trusting your team was, so even though they were confused and a bit worried about what he was doing, they all sorely wanted to believe he knew what he was doing.

Ephemera nodded. "He was out on the balcony and I think he saw something... He wouldn't explain to me or Cayanne what was going on, but I managed to stick a sequin to his lapel so we can watch what he's doing. However, I don't think he should be in there alone. We noticed some suspicious activity from that area and it might be dangerous with him without some backup."

Cahlen grimaced a bit. "He's gonna get us caught and throw off the whole mission, is what he's doing!" He seemed a bit aggravated at this turn of events, even though just an hour ago he was completely ignoring the mission in a closet with Vex. If pressed, he would defend that at least closet makeouts didn't have the chance to completely blow their cover.

Vex cocked an eyebrow at him, but shook his head without retorting. They couldn't be fighting right now. "Well, if this area is ripe with suspicious activities, we should at least set up surveillance here. I can take some of the sequins and turn invisible, going inside with the next person who went in. I can leave the cameras around the area and meet up with Alece, finding out what he's up to while also completing our mission."

Cayanne nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. It may not be what we were expecting to do, but as long as we don't blow our cover and set up the surveillance, I'm sure we won't get in too much trouble for going off plan. Even if we do get caught, as long as we build up a good network of information, they can't be too mad at us, right?"

Everyone silently agreed, hoping that that would be how it went down. Ephemera gave a handful of sequins to Vex, who put them inside of his bra, making them cloaked when he goes invisible. Ephemera's dress was looking quite naked without all the sequins, but with the shimmery design on the fabric underneath the sequin layer, it almost looked like a tasteful art piece. Vex, of course, had anticipated this and took a second to admire how well it ended up coming together. He really was proud of his work.

They wait around for a few more minutes, before they see someone coming. Cloaking himself in invisibility, Vex walked over and waited for the woman to enter the password into the keypad, taking note of the numbers in case it was needed in thhe future. Once it was open, Vex began following close to the woman who walked through the door. Ephemera put a live feed of where Alece was on his phone, so when the woman disappeared into one of the side doors, he would on occasion bring it out to make sure he was going the right way. Under each camera in the hallway, Vex stuck a sequin. He figured that whoever made this hallway had a good mind for surveillance, so putting a sequin under each camera would give them an accurate coverage of the area.

\----

The hallway dead ends after a bit of twisting and turning, leading Alece to a basic door. There were many doors before this one, but all of them had a swipe keypad so he wanted to at least check out the whole hallway before trying the doors. This one at the end, however, doesn't have a lock on it, so he presses his back to the door and pushes it inwards as he himself sneaks in silently, hoping not to alert anyone that was currently in the room.

At the end of the room is a huge elevator, and in the middle is a long coffin-like box that has a lot of machinery attached to it. However, neither of those things matter to him more than the figure in front of him. Standing on the other side of the coffin, closing it and latching it, was the familiar blonde figure that Alece had been desperately searching for for months.

It was Jaudi.


End file.
